Crop indicator lines for agricultural research and production

THIS PAPER SUGGESTS A MEANS OF SOLVING THIS PROBLEM. IT PROPOSES THAT A SYSTEMS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE BE USED TO DEVELOP MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS FOR DESCRIBING SIGNIFICANT INTERACTIONS AMONG THE COMPONENTS OF CROP PRODUCTION. THESE RELATIONSHIPS WOULD BE SYNTHESIZED INTO COMPUTER SIMULATION MODELS OF VARIOUS CROPS. THE TEST PLANTS EMPLOYED WOULD HAVE KNOWN GENETIC SOURCES. DIFFERENT GENOTYPES WOULD NEED TO BE USED, BUT THOSE COULD BE HELD TO A MINIMUM IF WIDELY ADAPTED GENOTYPES IN EACH CROP ARE IDENTIFIED, CATALOGUED, AND MADE AVAILABLE. THIS PAPER DISCUSSES SUCH SELECTION BY USING TWO MAJOR WORLD CROPS, CORN AND SOYBEANS WHICH ILLUSTRATE TWO MAJOR GENETIC SYSTEMS IN USE FOR CROP PRODUCTION: HYBRIDS AND PURE LINES. SUCH A CONSOLIDATION OF RESEARCH EFFORTS WOULD ASSIST IN MAKING IT MORE POSSIBLE TO MEET WORLD FOOD NEEDS. THE PAPER DEFINES INDICATOR LINES, DISCUSSES TYPES OF INDICATOR LINES NEEDED, THE TYPES AVAILABLE, THE NUMBER OF INDICATOR LINES NEEDED, THE USE OF OPEN-PEDIGREE STOCK, AND THE BENEFITS OF USING INDICATOR LINES. ONE BENEFIT OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH SYSTEM IS THAT PLANT BREEDERS AND GENETICISTS COULD PREDICT THE VALUE OF NEW GENETIC COMBINATIONS WITHOUT HAVING TO GROW THEM IN ALL POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTS.