Breeding Carrots for Production, Resilience, Flavor, and Fun in Organic Systems

In this presentation, you’ll learn fundamental concepts and strategies that are key to successful carrot breeding work. The presenters will cover basic genetics, color expression, trait expression and selection, and demonstrate how to cut, evaluate, and select roots from a diverse array of orange and rainbow colored roots. Specific topics that will be addressed:

• Which traits are straightforward to select for and which are not (more complex)
• Strategies to tease out environmental effects from genetic expression
• Basic color genetics – which colors are dominant and “easy to fix and work with” and which are more challenging
• When to stop – traits that are very difficult or “impossible” to select out or away from
• A word about male sterility – how it works in carrots (it’s naturally occurring) and what to do if, or when, it shows up
• Root evaluation, selection, and storage