Breeding for Quantitative Traits in Plants - Tapa dura

Growing out of lectures given from the dual perspectives of an academic and seed company scientist, Bernardo (agronomy and plant genetics, U. of Minnesota) seeks to foster an understanding of basic concepts in plant breeding and population genetics, and appreciation of the theoretical, experimental, and field basis of such concepts and strategies. Assuming graduate-level courses in plant breeding and statistics, the author provides coverage emphasizing math over illustrations of how genes behave in populations, creating breeding populations that have a high mean performance and large genetic variance, selecting the best genotypes and developing appropriate cultivars, and exploiting information on genes controlling quantitative traits. Lastly, he speculates on future developments. Includes 438 references. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)