Integrated Plant and Animal Breeding (MSc)

The International Master's programme in “Integrated Plant and Animal Breeding” provides a profoundly interdisciplinary approach to breeding research by bridging the gap between animal and plant breeding covers all relevant disciplines of breeding research is supplemented by external lecturers from leading international breeding companies, research institutions, and national authorities Animal breeding and plant breeding are driving the development of new livestock and crop varieties that can cope with the challenges of the changing environment and the demands of consumers. Breeding research integrates areas such as quantitative and molecular genetics, biotechnology, and breeding informatics. It has close links to neighbouring fields such as animal and plant nutrition, animal health and crop protection, marketing, economics and ethics. Highly specialised experts in this field are required worldwide. Graduates of this programme will have excellent career opportunities in both academia and industry. The two-year Master's programme requires 120 ECTS, divided into the study programme with 81 ECTS (lectures, internships, seminars), a six-week internship (9 ECTS) and the Master's thesis including colloquium (30 ECTS). Compulsory modules: Quantitative genetics and population genetics Breeding schemes and programmes in plant and animal breeding Statistical genetics, breeding informatics and experimental design Biotechnology and molecular genetics in plant and animal breeding Selection theory, design and optimisation of breeding programmes Internship (at least six weeks): research-intensive internship in the industry or public research institutes Elective modules (examples): Breeding informatics Poultry breeding and genetics Biotechnology and forest genetics Root biology Applied Machine Learning in Agriculture with R Molecular genetics and genomics Master's thesis and Master's defence PDF Download