The present invention is directed to a plant breeding and testing method
that utilizes a pollen mixture derived from many male parents in
conjunction with field trials and molecular pedigree analysis to evaluate
breeding values and make progeny selections for the next generation of
breeding. More specifically the plant breeding method involves mixing
pollen obtained from a breeding group composed of a plurality of parental
plants to obtain a pollen polymix. The polymix is used to pollinate
female reproductive structures from parental plants in the breeding group
to obtain a plurality of progeny seed lots. Each progeny seed lot has
seeds obtained from a different cross between the pollen polymix and a
different parental plant. Resultant progeny plants from each seed lot are
evaluated using objective criteria to obtain a phenotype score. The
pedigree of at least some of the progeny plants, usually those with a
desirable phenotype score, is determined using molecular parental
analysis. Lastly, the pedigree and phenotype score are used to identify
elite plants for use in a next generation of plant breeding.