Quantitative Genetics in Maize Breeding

Public investment in maize breeding from 1865 to 1996 was $3 billion (Crosbie et al., 2004) and the return on investment was $260 billion as a consequence of applied maize breeding, even without full understanding of the genetic basis of heterosis. Quantitative genetics has allowed the integration of prebreeding with cultivar development by characterizing populations genetically, adapting them to places never thought of (e.g., tropical to short seasons), improving them by all sorts of intra a…