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Plant breeders should be determining economic weights for a selection index instead of using independent culling for choosing parents in breeding programs with genomic selection

In the context of genomic selection, we evaluated and compared recurrent selection breeding programs using either index selection or independent culling for selection of parents. We simulated a clonally propagated crop breeding program for 20 cycles of selection using either independent culling or an economic selection index with two unfavourably correlated traits under selection. Cycle time from crossing to selection of parents was kept the same for both strategies. Our results demonstrate that accurate knowledge of the economic importance of traits is essential even when performing independent culling. This is because independent culling achieved its optimum genetic gain when the culling threshold for each trait varied accordingly to the economic importance of the traits. When gains from independent culling were maximised, the efficiency of converting genetic diversity into genetic gain of both selection methods were equivalent. When the same proportion selected of 10% for each trait was used instead of optimal culling levels, index selection was 10%, 128% and 310% more efficient than independent culling when T2 had a relative economic importance of 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0, respectively. Given the complexity of estimating optimal culling levels and the fact that the gains achieved with independent culling are, at most, equivalent to index selection, the use of an economic selection index is recommended for multi-trait genomic selection.