The process of sexual reproduction and bearing offspring. Selective breeding of both plants and animals is used in agriculture to produce offspring that possess the beneficial characters of both parents (see also artificial insemination). Inbreeding is the production of homozygous phenotypically uniform offspring by mating between close relatives. Plants that self-fertilize, such as wheat and tomatoes, are inbreeders. Outbreeding is the production of heterozygous phenotypically variable offspring by mating between unrelated organisms.