A marker interval is defined as the region in the chromosome delimited by two adjacent markers, left and right, for which we are testing for the existence of a putative QTL . The window size (of length W centiMorgans (cM)) defined here spans the region to the to the left of the left-hand marker interval and again to the right of the right-hand marker. The total region includes the marker interval flanked to the left and the right by a region whose length is defined here.In the MIM analysis, the left and right window sizes of any marker interval that has already a QTL in the model are avoided when searching for new putative QTL.