GENETIC EFFECTS IN DOUBLED HAPLOID MAIZE LINES WITH YELLOW KERNEL AND HIGH OIL CONTENT

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids of yellow kernels and high oil content possess characteristics that might have a great impact on the agricultural, livestock and industrial sectors in Mexico due to their high energy value. With the ultimte goal of developing in the short term highly productive hybrids with these characteristics, the aim of this study was to determine the genetic effects involved in grain yield, oil content and agronomic characteristics in direct and reciprocal crosses of doubled haploid lines (DHL) with yellow kernel and high oil content. Eight DHL derived from two subtropical populations were used: five of them were derived from the Northwest Yellow Population (NYP) and three from the Bajío Yellow Population (BYP). Both populations were developed by recurrent selection schemes to increase oil content. Direct and reciprocal crosses were formed in Celaya, Guanajuato in the 2013 Spring-Summer (S-S) season and were evaluated in 2014 S-S in Celaya, Guanajuato and Tarímbaro, Michoacán. During the field evaluation days to male (DMF) and female (DFF) flowering, plant (PH) and ear (EH) height, grain yield (GY) and oil grain content (OC) were registered. Highly significant differences (P ≤ 0.01) were observed for genotypes and environments in all the studied traits. General combining ability (GCA) effects were highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) in most of the traits; the specific combining ability (SCA) effects were lower than those of GCA, except for PH and EH. Reciprocal effects (ER) were highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) for GY and OC. Maternal effects (EM) showed significant differences for OC. Parental lines PAN DH 142 and PAB DH 230 showed the highest GCA for GY and OC, and the highest values in specific hybrid combinations.