Strain (biology)
For example, some rice strains are made by inserting new genetic material into a rice plant, all the descendants of the genetically modified rice plant are a strain with a unique genetic code that is passed on to later generations. The strain designation, a number or a formal name, covers all the plants that descend from the originally modified plant. The rice plants in the strain can be breed to other rice strains or cultivars, and if desirable plants are produced, these are further breed to stabilize the desirable traits; the stabilized plants that can be propagated and come true, are given a cultivar name and released into production to be used by farmers.