The Prognostic Breeding Application JMP Add-In Program

Abstract

Prognostic breeding is a crop improvement methodology that utilizes prognostic equations to enable concurrent selection for plant yield potential and stability of performance. There is a necessity for plant breeders to accurately phenotype plants in the field and select effectively for high and stable crop yield in the absence of the confounding effects of competition. Prognostic breeding accomplishes this goal by evaluating plants for (i) plant yield potential and (ii) plant stability, in the same generation. The plant yield index, stability index and the plant prognostic equation are the main criteria used for the selection of the best plants and the best entries grown in honeycomb designs. The construction of honeycomb designs and analysis of experimental data in prognostic breeding necessitate the development of a computer program to ensure accurate measurement of the prognostic equations. The objective of this paper is to introduce the Prognostic Breeding Application JMP Add-In, a program for constructing honeycomb designs and analyzing data for the efficient selection of superior plants and lines. The program displays powerful controls, allowing the user to create maps of any honeycomb design and visualize the selected plants in the field. Multi-year soybean data are used to demonstrate key features and graphic views of the most important steps.