Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 182

Plant breeding was described in Chapter 2 as both a science and an art. Experience (with the crop, the methods of breeding, breeding issues concerning the crop) is advantageous in having success in solving plant breeding problems. Plant breeders, as previously indicated, often must evaluate many plant characters in a breeding program. Whereas one or a few would be identified as key characters and focused on in a breeding program, breeders are concerned about the overall performance of the cultivar. During selection, breeders formulate a mental picture of the product desired from the project, and balance good qualities against moderate defects as they make final judgments in the selection process.

Explicit indices are laborious, requiring the breeder to commit to extensive record‐keeping and statistical analysis. Most breeders use a combination of truncation selection and intuitive selection index in their programs.