AlphaSimR: An R package for breeding program simulations

Abstract

This paper introduces AlphaSimR, an R package for stochastic simulations of plant and animal breeding programs. AlphaSimR is a highly flexible software package able to simulate a wide range of plant and animal breeding programs for diploid and autopolyploid species. AlphaSimR is ideal for testing the overall strategy and detailed design of breeding programs. AlphaSimR utilizes a scripting approach to building simulations that is particularly well suited for modeling highly complex breeding programs, such as commercial breeding programs. The primary benefit of this scripting approach is that it frees users from preset breeding program designs and allows them to model nearly any breeding program design. This paper lists the main features of AlphaSimR and provides a brief example simulation to show how to use the software.