Editing Selective breeding (section)

{{Short description|Breeding for desired characteristics}}
{{Evolutionary biology}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
[[File:Mutation and selection diagram (2).svg|thumb|[[Mutation]] and [[Selection (biology)|selection]]]]
[[File:Sectio caesarea.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Belgian Blue]] cow. The defect in the breed's [[myostatin]] [[gene]] is maintained through linebreeding and is responsible for its accelerated lean muscle growth.]]
[[File:Big and little dog 1.jpg|thumb|right|This [[Chihuahua (dog)|Chihuahua]] [[mixed-breed dog|mix]] and [[Great Dane]] shows the wide range of dog breed sizes created using selective breeding.]]
[[File:Cornselection.jpg|thumb|right|Selective breeding transformed [[teosinte]]'s few fruitcases (left) into modern [[maize]]'s rows of exposed kernels (right).]]

'''Selective breeding''' (also called '''artificial selection''') is the process by which humans use [[animal breeding]] and [[plant breeding]] to [[Selection (biology)|selectively]] develop particular [[phenotypic trait]]s (characteristics) by choosing which typically [[animal]] or [[plant]] males and females will [[sexual reproduction|sexually reproduce]] and have [[offspring]] together. [[Domestication|Domesticated]] animals are known as [[breed]]s, normally bred by a professional [[breeder]], while domesticated plants are known as [[Variety (botany)|varieties]], [[cultigen]]s, [[cultivar]]s, or breeds.<ref>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breed (Noun definition 1)</ref> Two purebred animals of different breeds produce a [[crossbreed]], and crossbred plants are called [[hybrid (biology)|hybrids]]. Flowers, vegetables and fruit-trees may be bred by amateurs and commercial or non-commercial professionals: major crops are usually the provenance of the professionals.

In [[animal breeding]] artificial selection is often combined with techniques such as [[inbreeding]], [[linebreeding]], and [[outcrossing]]. In [[plant breeding]], similar methods are used. [[Charles Darwin]] discussed how selective breeding had been successful in producing change over time in his 1859 book, ''[[On the Origin of Species]]''. Its first chapter discusses selective breeding and [[domestication]] of such animals as [[pigeon]]s, [[cat]]s, [[cattle]], and [[dog]]s. Darwin used artificial selection as an [[analogy]] to propose and explain the theory of [[natural selection]] but distinguished the latter from the former as a separate process that is non-directed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Darwin|first=Charles|year=2008|orig-year=1859|title=On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life|place=New York|publisher=[[Bantam Books]]|edition=Reissue|pages=9–132|isbn=978-0553214635}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Dawkins|title=The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design|title-link=The Blind Watchmaker|year=1996|orig-year=1986|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|place=New York|pages=7–11|isbn=978-0393351491}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Boehm|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Boehm|year=2012|title=Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame|place=New York|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|pages=2–3|isbn=978-0465020485}}</ref>

The deliberate exploitation of selective breeding to produce desired results has become very common in agriculture and experimental biology.

Selective breeding can be unintentional, for example, resulting from the process of human cultivation; and it may also produce unintended – desirable or undesirable – results. For example, in some grains, an increase in seed size may have resulted from certain ploughing practices rather than from the intentional selection of larger seeds. Most likely, there has been an interdependence between natural and artificial factors that have resulted in plant domestication.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1038/nature07895| title=The nature of selection during plant domestication| journal=Nature| volume=457| issue=7231| pages=843–8| year=2009| last1=Purugganan | first1=M. D. | last2=Fuller | first2=D. Q. | pmid=19212403| bibcode=2009Natur.457..843P| s2cid=205216444}}</ref>