Inbred lines generated from 10 maize population developed between 1979 and 2008 were used to investigate the inbreeding depression of tropical maize varieties developed at different breeding eras and evaluated in (optimal and stressed) condition. Across all the environments used for this study, estimates of inbred depression (I) for grain yield which ranged from 15.63% for optimum environment to 35.85 under stem borer infestation, showed differences in the severity of the effects of practicing inbreeding in each of the populations and the different environments. The highest values of inbreeding depression for grain yield were recorded under stem borer infestation. The effect of inbreeding was the most severe for var. DMR-LSR-W under borer infestation and least for DMR-LSR-Y in stress free environment. This is an indication that the responses of the maize populations to inbreeding as well as the rate of attaining homozygosity differed with environments. Across the four different environments under which the genotypes were evaluated, average inbreeding depression for grain yield were greater relative to other traits considered which should be expected since grain yield is a quantitatively inherited trait, governed by many genes each with minor effects.
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is one of the important traits that not only cause serious economic issues but also lead to reduction in grain quality and yield in rice (
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The yield related traits are controlled by multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and influenced by environmental change in rice. We analyzed QTLs for 15 yield related traits using two backcross populations, derived from crosses between IR64 as recurrent parent and Koshihikari as donor parent, through two years. A total of 67 backcross inbred lines (BILs) and 40 chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) were genotyped using 183 SNP markers using a high-throughput genotyping system. Some genomic gaps between markers were identified in two populations. For fifteen traits in this study, 36 major QTLs (mQTLs) for 12 traits and 16 digenic epistatic QTLs (EpQTLs) for culm length were detected in BILs. On the other hand, 17 mQTLs were detected for nine traits in CSSLs. Among them, six mQTLs for grain yield traits were collocated on chromosome 10 in both years. For spikelet fertility, six putative QTLs were detected under high temperature conditions in 2018. The QTLs identified in this study could be used for the development of rice varieties conferring inter-subspecific combinations of yield-related traits.
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Drought is one of the major abiotic factors that have a serious effect on the production of cereals crops including maize, which is grown widely in the world. Screening based on drought facilitates selection of inbred lines and an understanding of drought-tolerant traits. The effect of drought stress and rescue after stress on maize inbred lines was investigated in this study. Different plant growth attributes namely plant height, leaf area and weight, stem weight, root length, shoot and root fresh and dry weight, and total leaf chlorophyll content were measured. Six flint inbred lines (FLD 12, FLD 23, FLD 24, FLD 33, FLD 35, and FLD 37) were screened as drought-tolerant lines, whereas another six flint inbred lines (FLD 01, FLD 13, FLD 16, FLD 18, FLD 29, and FLD 31) were screened as drought susceptible lines. Growth attributes under different drought conditions were subjected to a correlation test and analysis of variance and showed highly significant relationships with each other. The drought effect differed with different inbred lines, indicating a wide variability of drought response at the early growth stage of maize plants. The results obtained from this study will be useful for selecting maize inbred lines in future breeding programs for enhancing drought tolerance.
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We selected 68 Chinese maize inbred lines to understand the genetic diversity, population structure, and marker-trait associations for eight agronomic traits and 50 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers. In this study, effective traits, such as days of anthesis (DA), days of silking (DS), ear height (EH), plant to ear height ratio (ER), plant height (PH), and leaf width (LW) were divided into PC1 and PC2 by PCA analysis for maize inbred lines. Genetic diversity analysis revealed a total of 506 alleles at 50 SSR loci. The mean number of alleles per locus was 10.12. The averages of genetic diversity (GD) and polymorphic information content (PIC) values were 0.771 and 0.743, respectively. Based on a membership probability threshold of 0.80, the population structure revealed that the total inbred lines were divided into three major groups with one admixed group. A marker-trait association using Q + K MLM showed that nine SSR markers (bnlg1017, umc2041, umc2400, bnlg105, umc1229, umc1250, umc1066, umc2092, and umc1426) were related with seven agronomic traits. Among these SSR markers, eight SSR markers were associated with only one agronomic trait (DA, DS, ER, LL, LW, PH, and ST), whereas one SSR marker (umc1229) was associated with two agronomic traits (DA and ST). These results will help in optimizing the choice of inbred lines for cross combinations, as well as in selecting markers for further maize breeding programs.
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We evaluated genetic diversity and population structure in 32 Canadian maize inbred lines and performed association analysis for five agronomical traits and 50 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Genetic diversity analysis revealed a total of 381 alleles at the 50 SSR loci. The average number of alleles per locus was 7.6. The average genetic diversity and polymorphic information content values were 0.709 and 0.676, respectively. The average major allele frequency was 0.414. Population structure analysis indicated that these maize inbred lines were comprised of four major groups and one admixed group based on a membership probability threshold of 0.80. A general linear model showed 20 marker-trait associations involving 12 SSR markers associated with the four agronomic traits except for leaf length. For these marker-trait associations, phi056, mmc0022, bnlg1621, bnlg1695, phi116, and bnlg1028 were associated with only one trait. The other nc005, bnlg1012, phi065, and umc1982 were associated with two traits. Two SSR markers, mmc0111 and umc1038, were associated with three traits. These results will help in optimizing the choice of parents for crossing combinations, as well as in selecting markers for marker-assisted selection for maize improvement.
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Maize (
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To utilize the favorable gene(s) from winter wheat for genetic improvement of spring wheat, this study was carried out to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with grain protein content (GPC) and grain hardness (GH) by analysis of recombinant inbred lines (RILS) derived from a cross between spring wheat and spring version of winter wheat. A genetic map of 334 loci was constructed which covered 1575.30cM on all 21 chromosomes. Two QTLs on 3B and 5B chromosome were detected for GPC. A QTL identified barc77 on chromosome 3B had additive effect of 0.17 and the other QTL identified by gwm499 on chromosome 5B had additive effect of 0.19. There were two major QTLs for GH identified on Chromosome 1B and chromosome 5A. The QTL on 1B was localized within a 18.7cM region flanked by wmc719 and wmc367-1 with 1.75 additive effect. The QTL on chromosome 5A flanked by SNP markers, IWA6573 and IWA2363, had additive effect of 1.44.
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