IS IT POSIBLE TO MAKE AN INBRED LINE WITH THREE PLANTS, WHICH IS NOT A HALF-SIB FAMILY?

Abstract

An equation was previously derived to calculate inbreeding of an imaginary line (IM) made with three plants of maize (Zea mays L.). The inbreeding values of the IM line are intermediate between fullsibling lines and half-sibling lines. This IM name was given because the author had assumed that it was impossible to obtain these lines in the field. In this paper a crossing method using three plants is designed. The inbreeding values of the IM line and of those obtained with this method are different. However, the χ² obtained with the values of the two methods has a 0.99 probability. It is pointed out that to make an IM line is a rather academic situation. In practice, with three plants it is also posible to make half-sib crosses, but with inbreeding values much smaller than those of an IM line.