artificial selection

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artificial selection Breeding of plants, animals, or other organisms in which the parents are individually selected in order to perpetuate certain desired traits and eliminate others from the captive population. By this means, most of our domestic crops, livestock, and pets have arisen. Desired traits produced by artificial selection include disease-resistant plants and high milk production in cows. Artificial selection can be accelerated by techniques such as plant tissue culture and the artificial insemination of livestock. When an organism in nature undergoes an advantageous change that is passed to successive generations, this is called natural selection. See also clone; genetic engineering

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