Selective Breeding

Definition

Selective breeding is a process used by humans to develop new organisms with desirable characteristics. Breeders select two parents that have beneficial phenotypic traits to reproduce, yielding offspring with those desired traits.

Related terms

Artificial Selection:

The intentional reproduction of individuals in a population that have desirable traits.

Inbreeding: Mating between closely related individuals which often leads to decreased genetic diversity.

Hybridization: The process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid.