Tools for the Future Breeder

Currently, the genetic improvement of plants demands the selection process to be more efficient and to obtain better results in a short period of time. However, the productivity of most of the cultivations has almost reached a plateau. Many cultivations show high genomic complexity: polyploidies, aneuploidies, recombinations, structural chromosome alterations (translocation, inversion, deletion, and insertion), multiple alleles, interaction of QTLs and eQTLs, and high gene variation, which make it difficult to obtain cultivars more stable and less vulnerable to environmental alterations. Until now, the current study has prioritized production and quality phenotypic characters, selecting genotypes in only one field level. Given the increase in the difficulty of obtaining better varieties, genetic typing was used, which was very useful when backed up by phenotyping. There are many genotyping methodologies, each one having its own application characteristics and specificities, and the breeder must know and become acquainted with the most appropriate choice. Nowadays, genotyping techniques are no longer limited, due to automatization and subcontracting. It is believed that phenotyping will be one of the most limiting factors for genetic improvement, especially for large populations.This chapter will take a generalist approach to the contributions that new methodologies have already brought and will be able to bring to the improvement of plants in the very near future.