The work of the plant breeder and producer:

The table below summarizes some of the factors that dictate how hard a plant breeder will work to accomplish the goal of producing new varieties with desired grain quality traits and challenges a producer will encounter in different situations.

Table 1. Grain quality trait considerations

Factor	Impact on work
1. Trait can be measured in the field with visual inspection	Little extra work needed
2. Trait measured in the lab with NIR or other inexpensive assay	Additional costs but does not limit numbers
3. Traits measured by time consuming, expensive assay	Costly, imposes limits on numbers tested
4. Trait controlled by environment	Breeder has less confidence in ability to select
5. Trait controlled mostly by genetics	Breeder can select phenotypes that have desired genotypes
6. Trait controlled by a few genes	Breeder can work with smaller numbers and get more predictable result
7. Trait controlled by many genes	Breeder will need to work with larger numbers of offspring from each cross
8. Trait is recessive	Easy to establish pure line, more challenging to maintain purity
9. Trait is dominant	Pure lines need more testing, phenotype purity easier to maintain
10. Maternal trait	Purity in field depends on seed planted
11. Biparental trait	Producer will need to consider both females in their field and the male parents
12. Self pollinating crop	Purity easier to maintain
13. Cross pollinating crop	Purity more difficult to maintain