Selection procedures used in plant breeding have gradually developed over a very long time span, in fact since settled agriculture was ?rst undertaken. Nowadays these procedures range from very simple mass selection methods, sometimes applied in an ine?ective way, to indirect trait selection based on molecular markers. The procedures di?er in costs as well as in genetic - ciency.Incontrasttothegenetice?ciency, costsdependonthelocalconditions encountered by the breeder. The genetic progress per unit of money invested varies consequently from site to site. This book considers consequently only...