Breeding conventional

Introduction improvement of drought resistance in conventional breeding programmes... 

Phytochemical functional foods 13.6.1 Conventional plant breeding... 

Analysis in diverse lines can facilitate identification of useful alleles that control expression of enzymes upstream of the carotenoid pathway, a feature that would not be evident from conventional end-product screening of breeding lines. Moreover, this characterization sets the stage for marker-assisted selection of superior endogenous alleles and facilitates selection of introduced transgenes that may be necessary to supplement the genotypic contribution required for a particular plant chemical outcome. 

Meili (2002) confirms this from Switzerland. Organic beef sells very well in the biggest supermarket. The consumer pays 10% to 15% more for the meat and the farmer receives 40% more for the organic animal than for the conventional. The favoured cross for quality organic beef is the Limousin crossed with a dairy breed. This cross can be slaughtered at 550 kg liveweight to make a 300 kg carcass. 

Most organic poultry production is currently based on the same breeding stock as conventional farming and the principal problems (see above) are the same. The discussion group at the fourth NAHWOA Workshop (Network for Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture) identified the following main problems (Hirt et al 2001) ... 

In general, genotypes used in conventional production are characterised by a high capacity for protein accretion. This is achieved by crossbreeding different strains, mostly belonging to the Landrace, Large White, Duroc, and/or Hampshire breeds. Additionally, boars of the Pietrain breed are used to sire because of their famous effect on lean meat percentage. 

The genotypes used in organic farming are often the same crossbreeds as in conventional production but also encompass a wide range of rare breeds characterised by specific traits. Sometimes conservation of rare breeds is the objective in different farm units. 

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