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      • HARVEST
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      The Adoption of Molecular Marker Assisted Selection in Publicly Funded Western Canadian Wheat Breeding Programs

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      WEITERMAN-THESIS-2017.pdf (2.050Mb)
      Date
      2017-09-25
      Author
      Weiterman, Raine 1987-
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      This thesis examines the adoption of marker assisted selection (MAS) by public wheat breeders in Western Canada. While governments, producers and the private sector are investing heavily in genomics and the development of breeding tools, improvements in breeding outcomes is dependent on the adoption of these new tools. The data set for this thesis was gathered from in-person surveys of eleven of the twelve active public wheat breeders in Western Canada. This nearly comprehensive data set allowed the construction of adoption curves for MAS, at the breeder level, and the breeder program level, and at the trait level, providing a detailed perspective of the level of adoption. Data collected from breeders on the year that breeders became aware of the markers they adopted provides an estimate of the adoption lag for each marker at all levels of aggregation. Based upon review of relevant literature, variables that could affect adoption, including characteristics of the marker, breeding program, and the breeder were identified. Ordinary least square regression models are developed for both adoption lag and the number of markers used. There is a high level of adoption of MAS by public wheat breeders with adoption lags decreasing over time. The number and type of employee influences the number of markers a breeder adopts. Absorptive capacity, how frequently a breeder reads academic publications, the number of years experience a breeder has, and whether a breeder is an employee of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) all shorten the adoption lag of MAS.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Bioresource Policy, Business and Economics
      Program
      Agricultural Economics
      Supervisor
      Gray, Richard
      Committee
      Skolrud, Tristan; Rossnagel, Brian; Thompson, Wayne; Hesseln, Hayley
      Copyright Date
      September 2017
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/8144
      Subject
      Marker assisted selection (MAS), wheat breeding, adoption, awareness, absorptive capacity
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