The Application of High Density Marker Data to a Commercial Breeding Program.

Genetic marker data have traditionally been used only in a limited fashion and only within selected stages of commercial breeding programs, while pedigree and phenotypic data have remained the primary sources of information used by breeders within traditional breeding programs. This has limited the ability of maize breeders to increase the number of recombinant genotypes that can be screened in a breeding program without significant increase in usage of field resources. Availability of cost effective genotyping platforms in conjunction with other key enabling technologies such as precision phenotyping and  double haploids has enabled breeders to significantly increase the number of recombinant genotypes that can be screened based only on their genomic profile. The development of an integrated breeding system that takes full advantage of all enabling technologies within both field and molecular based breeding activities, is fundamental to enhance the realized genetic gain.