Software Tools to Assist Breeding Decisions

Plant breeders are usually faced with the problem of predicting the performance of new individuals with untested gene combinations. Therefore, it is important to follow an integrated breeding approach by combining molecular tools, molecular mapping, and MAS. It is also required to develop tools for modeling and simulation analysis by utilizing all pre-existing and newly generated data. Several software tools have been developed that integrates breeding simulations and phenotype prediction models using genomic information. Reliable phenotype prediction models for the simulation were constructed from actual genotype and phenotype data. Such simulation-based genome-assisted approach to breeding will help optimize plant breeding in all important agricultural crops. Software tools have also been developed for designing target sites or evaluating the outcome of genome/gene editing system. This chapter provides an overview of the key software support tools that will assist the plant breeders in decision making during the process of conducting various breeding program.