b'MIKE THOMPSONVP PARTNER DEVELOPMENT, BENSON HILLmthompson@bensonhillbio.combensonhillbio.com/Predictive Breeding: Five Steps to Hit it Out of the ParkTHE USE OF GENOMICselection in plant breeding may seemyoull want to know when genomic selection is starting to pay worlds apart from the use of advanced analytics in baseball, yetoff. That happens when youre able to do either or both of the both are rooted in the same analysis methods and both improvefollowing:performance by modeling and predicting outcomes.Reduce the number of lines you trial.Enriching your breeding program with the predictive breeding Reduce the time it takes to go from a new crop to commer-capabilities possible with genomic selection (GS) can improve thecial trial. Instead of needing perhaps six years, you accomplish accuracy and precision of your efforts and will be a home run forthe feat in three or four.your program in terms of time savings and money. Both benets are the result of the greater efciency and Breeders may not know how to get started. Heres a quick,speed of breeding thats enabled by genomic selection.step-by-step playbook: Repeat your cost-benet analysis at each step through the breeding process. Youll get a handle on both the timing and the 1. Dont swing at everything; keep your eye on the ball. size of your return.Start small with this technology. To get familiar with the process of incorporating genomic selection in your operations, pick one4. Use the information you collect in genomic selection to part of your plant breeding program thats of particular inter- track your program and improve your lineup.est to you or perhaps especially well organized. Next, chooseKeeping meticulous records is second nature to most plant a subset of that program to genotype. Phenotype and makebreeders. Keep good databoth genotypic and phenotypic. selections from that subset. Then run an analysis for genomicThis kind of recordkeeping will protect you against errors and selection. seed mix-ups, ensure condence in your results and guard Compare results from genomic selection analytics to selec- against any potential legal liability.tions made using only phenotypes.5. Choose an analytics platform that keeps you in the middle of 2.Know your playersorganize your data early. the process.No baseball manager chooses his lineup without knowing howTo make good decisions, baseball managers make direct use of each player has fared in the past against the opposing pitcher.the data their teams analysts have collected. They cant be in Genomic selection is similar; a great batting average is an out- the position of relying on others to hand them an answer that come of good historical data sets. The better you know yourdoesnt take their knowledge about the game into account. They dataon characteristics ranging from seed weight, maturity, oilneed analytics they can work through easily in a platform thats and protein content, yield and morethe better your chancesmanager friendly.of making the best selections moving forward. If that data isLikewise, breeders shouldnt have to be fluent in computer sci-scattered across different les, computers or even servers, nowsence to use software platforms and get the answers they want. the time to start organizing it. The interface used to analyze data should be easy and intuitive. I didnt have to write a computer program to write this article 3. Keep Score: Monitor your cost-benet analysis every step ofon my laptop; a breeder should be able to handle the analytics the way. involved in genomic selection with the same ease.Although the cost of genotyping is declining, it is still a cost, so OCTOBER 2019SEEDWORLD.COM /49'