Our ancestors have practiced plant breeding for thousands of years by cross-fertilising plants with different characteristics. Plant breeding can be accomplished through many different techniques ranging from simply selecting plants with desirable traits for propagation, to more complex molecular techniques.
At each stage in the process the breeder needs to choose the best seeds for propagation to the nest generation. In the past the breeder has had to sacrifice some of these valuable seeds in order to test for the traits of interest. NIR has become increasingly popular in the plant breeding-sector, as it is a non-destructive method of analysis, capable of measuring many of the important traits. It allows the breeder to analyse seeds quickly and to cost effectively determined the best and successfully grow them on.