The origin and the development of the concepts of classical genetic evaluation

Abstract

Fundamental aspects of genetic evaluation are addressed through some milestones:

- Genesis of paradigmatic concepts of genotype and phenotype,

- The polygenic model of Fisher, and the covariance between relatives,

- Henderson's works, which, hand in hand with the dramatic increase of computing facilities, have enabled us to perform genetic evaluation at a population level.

These concepts, models and methods have been developed within a pragmatic approach. They have been proved efficient thanks to the response to selection in most breeding programs.