Method of predicting crop yield using metabolic profiling

A method of forecasting crop yields, the method comprising;

• a) sampling un-pollinated female inflorescence tissue from a subset of plants of a plant population;
• b) measuring one or more yield metabolite markers for each tissue sampled from the subset plant population of a), wherein the yield metabolite markers are selected from the group consisting of glutamine, glucoside of glutamate, 5-oxoproline, aspartate, arginine, proline, phosphate, homoserine-lactone, leucine, asparagines, putrescine, valine, vanillate, threonine, adenine, aminpentanoate, erythritol, nicotinate ribonucleoside, arginine, 1,3-dihydroxyacetone, isoleucylglutamate, lysine, methy-2-oxopentanoate;
• c) comparing yield metabolite marker levels measured in b) against a calibration curve wherein the calibration curve correlates grain yield with yield metabolite marker levels measured in un-pollinated female inflorescence tissue;
• and
• d) forecasting crop yields.