Different experimental designs will be discussed and various statistical tools will be applied to research questions in agroecosystem sciences. Statistical methods range from simple analysis of variance to mixed-models and multivariate statistics. Surveys and manipulative field and laboratory experiments are addressed and students learn to analyse data using a hands-on approach.

Molecular tools have substantially contributed to improve the process of plant breeding throughout the last decades. This course illustrates - on the basis of lectures, exercises and practical examples - the most important molecular breeding tools (genetic diversity analyses, QTL and association studies) and how these tools are applied to plant breeding by means of genomics-assisted selection.