Editing Selective breeding (section)

==History==
Selective breeding of both plants and animals has been practiced since  [[prehistory]]; key species such as [[wheat]], [[rice]], and [[dog]]s have been significantly different from their wild ancestors for millennia, and [[maize]], which required especially large changes from [[teosinte]], its wild form, was selectively bred in [[Mesoamerica]]. Selective breeding was practiced by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Buffum, Burt C. |title=Arid Agriculture; A Hand-Book for the Western Farmer and Stockman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rmbur_Am8vgC&pg=PA232|date=2008|publisher=Read Books|isbn=978-1-4086-6710-1|page=232}}</ref> Treatises as much as 2,000 years old give advice on selecting animals for different purposes, and these ancient works cite still older authorities, such as [[Mago (agricultural writer)|Mago the Carthaginian]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Lush, Jay L. |title=Animal Breeding Plans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KA-4oOQLgP8C&pg=PA21|date= 2008|publisher=Orchard Press|isbn=978-1-4437-8451-1|page=21}}</ref> The notion of selective breeding was later expressed by the [[Persian people|Persian]] [[Muslim]] [[polymath]] [[Abu Rayhan Biruni]] in the 11th century. He noted the idea in his book titled ''India'', which included various examples.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1086/348801| title = On the Presumed Darwinism of Alberuni Eight Hundred Years before Darwin| journal = Isis| volume = 50| issue = 4| pages = 459–466| year = 1959| last1 = Wilczynski | first1 = J. Z. | s2cid = 143086988}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The agriculturist selects his corn, letting grow as much as he requires, and tearing out the remainder. The forester leaves those branches which he perceives to be excellent, whilst he cuts away all others. The bees kill those of their kind who only eat, but do not work in their beehive.|author=[[Abu Rayhan Biruni]] |source=''India''}}

Selective breeding was established as a scientific practice by [[Robert Bakewell (agriculturalist)|Robert Bakewell]] during the [[British Agricultural Revolution]] in the 18th century.  Arguably, his most important breeding program was with sheep. Using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The [[Lincoln (sheep)|Lincoln Longwool]] was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New (or Dishley) Leicester. It was [[Polled livestock|hornless]] and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines.<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Bakewell (1725–1795)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bakewell_robert.shtml|publisher=BBC History|access-date=20 July 2012}}</ref>

These sheep were exported widely, including to [[Australia]] and [[North America]], and have contributed to numerous modern breeds, despite the fact that they fell quickly out of favor as market preferences in meat and textiles changed. Bloodlines of these original New Leicesters survive today as the [[English Leicester]] (or Leicester Longwool), which is primarily kept for wool production.

Bakewell was also the first to breed cattle to be used primarily for beef. Previously, cattle were first and foremost kept for pulling [[plough]]s as [[oxen]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Trail of the Viking Finger|last=Bean|first=John|publisher=Troubador Publishing|year=2016|isbn=978-1785893056|pages=114}}</ref> but he crossed long-horned heifers and a Westmoreland bull to eventually create the [[English Longhorn|Dishley Longhorn]]. As more and more farmers followed his lead, farm animals increased dramatically in size and quality. In 1700, the average weight of a [[bull]] sold for slaughter was 370 [[Pound (mass)|pounds]] (168&nbsp;kg). By 1786, that weight had more than doubled to 840 pounds (381&nbsp;kg). However, after his death, the Dishley Longhorn was replaced with short-horn versions.

He also bred the Improved Black Cart horse, which later became the [[Shire horse]].

[[Charles Darwin]] coined the term 'selective breeding'; he was interested in the process as an illustration of his proposed wider process of [[natural selection]]. Darwin noted that many domesticated animals and plants had special properties that were developed by intentional [[animal husbandry|animal and]] [[plant breeding]] from individuals that showed desirable characteristics, and discouraging the breeding of individuals with less desirable characteristics.

Darwin used the term "artificial selection" twice in the 1859 first edition of his work ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'', in Chapter IV: Natural Selection, and in Chapter VI: Difficulties on Theory:

{{blockquote|Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the co-adaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's power of selection.<ref>Darwin, p. [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F373&pageseq=124 109]</ref>|author=[[Charles Darwin]]|source=''On the Origin of Species''}}

{{blockquote|We are profoundly ignorant of the causes producing slight and unimportant variations; and we are immediately made conscious of this by reflecting on the differences in the breeds of our domesticated animals in different countries,—more especially in the less civilized countries where there has been but little artificial selection.<ref>Darwin, pp. [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F373&pageseq=215 197–198]</ref>|author=[[Charles Darwin]]|source=''On the Origin of Species''}}