Selective breeding, also known as artificial selection, is a process where humans choose specific organisms with desired traits to reproduce, leading to changes in the characteristics of a population over time.
Selectively breeding cattle
Identify desired traits. For cattle, this may include high milk yield, meat production, or disease resistance.
Select a suitable bull and cow using progeny testing. Progeny testing is the process of consulting pedigree records (record of the characteristics of the offspring produced by a bull or cow)
Sperm is extracted from the bull and frozen for preservation.
When the cow is in oestrus, the sperm is artificially inseminated into the cow.
The cow is checked to ensure that implantation has occurred and she is in calf.
Selectively breeding plant crops
Desired traits, such as higher yield, disease resistance and climate resilience are identified.
Crop plants are exposed to environmental pressures (disease, drought, etc. ) to check for resistance.
Disease and climate resistant plants are selected.
Selected plants are bred together (inbreeding).
Seeds from the F1 generation are used to produce F2 generation.
Offspring with the desired characteristics are selected and bred with each other over many generations.
Outbreeding is carried out to reintroduce hybrid vigour.