Forward genetics a bare minimum for the appearance of specific phenotypes. However, such initial screens were either incomplete as they were missing redundant loci and epigenetic effects, and such screens were difficult to undertake for certain phenotypes that lack directly measurable phenotypes. Additionally a classical genetics approach takes significantly longer. Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plant phenotypes and published his conclusions about genes and inheritance in 1865. Around the early 1900s Thomas Hunt Morgan was mutating Drosophila using radium and attempting to find heritable mutations Alfred Sturtevant later began mapping genes of Drosophila with mutations they had been following. In the 1990s
History of plant breeding History of plant breeding Plant breeding started with sedentary agriculture, particularly the domestication of the first agricultural plants, a practice which is estimated to date back 9,000 to 11,000 years. Initially, early human farmers selected food plants with particular desirable characteristics and used these as a seed source for subsequent generations, resulting in an accumulation of characteristics over time. In time however, experiments began with deliberate hybridization, the science and understanding of which was greatly enhanced by the work of Gregor Mendel. Mendel's work ultimately led to the new science of genetics. Modern plant breeding is applied genetics, but its