P lant breeding, certainly in the era before genomics and marker-assisted selection, was often referred to as a "numbers game." The more crosses, the more likely it is to find improved genetic combinations. We propose a newly integrated breeding strategy for self-fertilizing crops that dramatically reduces the number of crosses being promoted while increasing the likelihood of obtaining superior new cultivars. This strategy emerges from experiments in the Bread Wheat Program of the International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT).In the late 1990s we noticed that ~8% of the elite new lines in the International Bread Wheat Screening Nursery (IBWSN) for international distribution were derived from <20 crosses. The remaining 92% of elite lines came from 5000 to 10,000 crosses. These few original crosses, and the lines derived from them, represented a strategy that we now describe as hybrid-enabled line profiling (HELP). This strategy offers breeding programs for selfing crops enormous benefits through improved performance. It
Cross the Best with the Best, and Select the Best: HELP in Breeding Selfing CropsMaarten van Ginkel* and Rodomiro Ortiz ABSTRACT Hybrid-enabled line profiling (HELP) is a new integrated breeding strategy for self-fertilizing crops that combines existing and recently identified elements, resulting in a strategy that synergistically exceeds existing breeding concepts. Heterosis in selfing crops is often driven by additive and additive ´ additive gene action, the molecular basis of which is increasingly being revealed. Unlike nonadditive heterosis, additive forms can be relatively easily fixed in homozygous lines, meaning that their seed can simply be resown to express the same "heterosis." Crossing diverse, complementary "selfing" parents to create the desired trait or allele line profile requires strict male sterility of the female; this can now be achieved relatively easily through present and emerging chemical, environmental, or genetic techniques. Fairly small amounts of hybrid seed are needed, with no need to scale up seed production, as it is not the hybrid that will be commercialized. After multilocation testing, homozygous lines from only the most superior hybrids, driven mainly by additive effects and additive ´ additive gene action, are rapidly derived using techniques such as doubled haploids. Multilocation testing and molecular confirmation of target line profiles then identify superior lines for release to farmers. The HELP strategy integrates modern high-throughput versions of existing and new concepts and methodologies into a breeding system strategy that focuses on the most superior crosses, <10% of all crosses. This focus results in significant increases in efficiency and can reverse the edible yield plateauing seen or feared in some of our major selfing food crops.M. van Ginkel,