Breeding scheme optimization

Identification key for agriculturally important plant-parasitic nematodes: a manual for nematology

Nematodes are diverse metazoans with an estimated one million species covering nearly all ecosystems in their roles as bacterivores, herbivores, parasites of animals and plants, and consumers of dissolved as well as particulate organic matter.

Their economic impact was estimated at a loss of $118 billion in 2001, half of that in rice and maize alone. Accuracy of species identification is therefore fundamental to our understanding and communication of the ecological role of any organism.

Maize hybrid seed production manual

Maize hybrid seed provides farmers with varieties containing improved genetics, such as high yield potential and unique trait combinations to counter diseases and adverse growing conditions.

Linear selection indices in modern plant breeding

This book represents a compilation of work done in the area of “selection indices” in animal and plant breeding.

Selection indices were originally developed by Smith (1936) in plant breeding and by Hazel (1943) in animal breeding to address the selection of plants or animals scored for multiple traits.

In agriculture, the breeding worth (or net genetic merit) of a candidate for selection depends on several traits. For example, grain yield, disease resistance, and flowering time.

Sarah Hearne

Toolbox

Sarah Hearne
Sarah Hearne’s work focuses on the interface between genetic resources and plant breeding and in the adaptation/development and use of tools to enhance the identification and transfer of useful native genetic variation from exotic germplasm to breeding germplasm. She leads the maize and informatics work of the Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) initiative at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). Hearne is presently a Principal Scientist at CIMMYT. Previously, she was a Plant Molecular Geneticist/Physiologist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Hearne holds a doctoral degree on morphological, physiological and molecular interactions between maize and the parasitic angiosperm Striga hermonthica from the University of Sheffield – U.K.

Job title:

Toolbox coordinator

Eduardo Covarrubias

Optimizing breeding schemes

Eduardo Covarrubias
As optimizing breeding schemes lead, Eduardo supports breeding programs to define processes, apply project management and quantitative genetics principles, and use computer simulations to optimize their breeding scheme. Eduardo studied crop sciences at the University of Chapingo, Mexico, and then gained his PhD in plant breeding with a specialization in quantitative genetics at the University of Wisconsin. Prior to joining EiB, Eduardo was the biometrics wheat lead at Bayer CropScience, now BSF, in Belgium.