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Breeding Horizons Next-Gen Breeder Training

 

Venue: University of New England, Armidale, NSW Australia

Course Audience: Postgraduate students and Industry professionals

 

The Next-Gen Breeder Training program offers intensive face-to-face training focused on the critical aspects of efficient and sustainable breeding programs—covering how to maximise genetic gain while maintaining genetic diversity. Participants will gain a solid theoretical foundation and practical skills through hands-on experience, with a focus on applying the latest theory to real breeding programs. Concepts are presented in a practical way using simple teaching tools in Excel and R, with straightforward examples to illustrate key ideas. The course covers the full selection pipeline—from defining breeding goals and translating these into traits and relative weights, through to measuring phenotypes or using genomic testing to predict breeding value, and finally optimising selection decisions across multiple traits while maintaining sufficient genetic variation.

 

Content:

Program Monday 16 November

 

8.30 – 9.00am

Arrival and Registration

9.00 – 10.30am

Introduction, obtaining accurate selection criteria (EBVs)

10.30 – 11.00am

Morning Tea

11.00 – 12.30pm

The accuracy of genomic selection

12.30 - 1.30pm

Lunch

1.30 – 3.00pm

Optimising selection response

3.00 – 3.30pm

Afternoon Tea

3.30 – 5.00pm

Setting multiple traits breeding objectives

Evening

Social Event, Welder’s Dog, 120 Marsh Street, Armidale

 

Program Tuesday 17 November

 

8.30 – 9.00am

Arrival and Registration

9.00 – 10.30am

Optimising multiple trait selection

10.30 – 11.00am

Morning Tea

11.00 – 12.30pm

Selection for multiple environments (GxE)

12.30 – 2.00pm

Lunch

2.00 – 3.00pm

Managing genetic diversity

3.00 – 3.30pm

Afternoon Tea

3.30 – 5.00pm

Implementing optimal breeding programs

Evening

Free evening

 

Details on topics and relevant materials will be populated below during the course

 

Background Reading:

Statistical Foundation of Quantitative Genetics

Tutorial on matrix algebra

 

-------------------- DAY 1 -------------------------------------------------------

Introduction                                                                            Slides

Obtaining accurate selection criteria (EBVs)               Slides to follow

The accuracy of genomic selection                                  Slides to follow

Optimising selection response                                          Slides to follow

Setting multiple traits breeding objectives                   Slides to follow

--------------------- DAY 2 -------------------------------------------------------

Optimising multiple trait selection                                  Slides to follow

Selection for multiple environments (GxE)                   Slides to follow

Managing genetic diversity                                                Slides to follow

Implementing optimal breeding programs                   Slides to follow