Breeding programmes are key to the genetic improvement of plant varieties and animal breeds used in agriculture. This unique course shows how to model an existing or new breeding programme and the evaluation of alternative breeding scenarios.

This online course will equip participants with an understanding of computer modelling of breeding programmes to enhance genetic improvements in agriculture. The modelling is done through the AlphaSimR package. The package provides a set of functions that represent breeding activities. The combination of these functions in an R script allows the modelling of simple and arbitrarily complex breeding programmes. It also allows evaluation of the effects of alternative breeding scenarios on the rate of genetic improvement and other key performance indicators. The course is taught by experts in the field and is applicable to a range of breeding programmes as demonstrated through local and global case studies.