A Doubled Haploid Laboratory for Kansas Wheat Breeding: An Economic Analysis of Biotechnology Adoption

This research evaluates the use of doubled haploid lines (DHs) to accelerate breeding and gene discovery in wheat breeding. The DH biotechnology greatly accelerates time to market for new wheat varieties and speeds genetic gains in wheat yields. An economic model was built based on previous literature, knowledge of the wheat industry, and information gleaned from wheat breeder interviews. Results show that DH methods would provide large economic gains to Kansas wheat producers and global wheat consumers. The results are robust to a wide variety of scenarios.