I n recent issues of The Journal several articles have appeared which decribe The American Chestnut Foundation’s breeding program for backcrossing the blight resistance of Chinese chestnut into American chestnut (Hebard 1994a). The breeding program involves repeated crossing of selected C. dentata x C. mollissima hybrids and progeny to C. dentata (American chestnut), hence reconstituting the C....

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Artemisia annua is an important medicinal crop used for the production of the anti-malarial compound artemisinin. In order to assist in the production of affordable high quality artemisinin we have carried out an A. annua breeding programme aimed at improving artemisinin concentration and biomass. Here we report on a combining ability analysis of a diallel cross to identify robust parental line...

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) of intact seeds allows the non-destructive estimation of seed quality parameters which is highly desirable in plant breeding. Together with yield, oil content and quality, a main aim in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) breeding is the selection of genotypes with a low percentage of empty seeds even under cooler climates. We developed NIRS calibra...

Increasing the amount of bioavailable mineral elements in plant foods would help to improve the nutritional status of populations in developing countries. Legume seeds have the potential to provide many essential nutrients. It is important to have information on genetic variations among different lentil populations so that plant breeding programs can use new varieties in cross-breeding programs...

The present study was undertaken to determine the fertility soundness of unselected bulls used for breeding based on a standard breeding soundness evaluation technique (BSE) and trans-scrotal ultrasonography (TSU). A total of 8 bulls, with the mean age of 51⁄2 years (ranged from 31⁄2 8 years) and the mean weight of 651.5kg (ranged from 480-840 kg) were evaluated. Three bulls were Friesian Sahiw...

Duroc, Hampshire and Yorkshire boars were mated with crossbred gilts of Duroc-Hampshire, Duroc-Yorkshire and Hampshire-Yorkshire breeding to produce 133 three-breed and 259 backcross litters that were farrowed during four seasons beginning in the fall of 1975. Three-breed cross litters were .31 +/- .27, .57 +/- .24 and .50 +/- .24 pigs larger than backcross litters at birth, 21 and 42 days, res...

BACKGROUND Genomic selection (GS) involves estimating breeding values using molecular markers spanning the entire genome. Accurate prediction of genomic breeding values (GEBVs) presents a central challenge to contemporary plant and animal breeders. The existence of a wide array of marker-based approaches for predicting breeding values makes it essential to evaluate and compare their relative pr...

Genomic selection was recently introduced in plant breeding. The objective of this study was to develop genomic prediction for important seed quality parameters in spring barley. The aim was to predict breeding values without expensive phenotyping of large sets of lines. A total number of 309 advanced spring barley lines tested at two locations each with three replicates were phenotyped and eac...