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Inheritance of the stay-green trait in tropical maize

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Abstract

Stay-green maize genotypes have been associated with tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, including tolerance to drought, and to stalk and root lodging, but there is limited information on its inheritance. Thus, this research was conducted to study the inheritance of the stay-green trait using both conventional analysis and QTL mapping of the Design III in a tropical maize population developed from two inbred lines genetically divergent for this trait. Two-hundred and fifty F2 plants were genotyped with 177 microsatellite markers, and their backcrossed progenies to both parental inbreds were evaluated at three locations. Ten plants per plot were assessed 120 days after sowing and the plot means scores for stay-green, adjusted for days to silking emergence, were used for analysis. The additive variance was larger than the dominance variance, the genetic by location interaction variance presented a high magnitude, and the heritability coefficient on a plant-basis a low magnitude. Seventeen QTL were mapped, most of them were clustered on four chromosomes and accounted for by 73.08 % of the genetic variance. About half of the QTL interacted with location, and the average level of dominance was partial dominance. The additive effects were larger than the dominance effects; the latter were not unidirectional, so that heterosis could not be exploited in crosses. Procedures for marker-assisted selection to increase the level of stay-green are discussed and an approach is suggested for using both stable and non-stable QTL in a marker-assisted backcross program.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-308499/2006-9 and CNPq-301717/2009-5), and by the Department of Genetics at the Agriculture College “Luiz de Queiroz”/University of São Paulo. C. L. Souza Jr. is recipient of a research fellowship from CNPq. The authors are grateful to Dr. Anete Pereira de Souza, from the University of Campinas, for the genetic mapping of the population; and to A. J. Desidério, A. S. Oliveira, A. O. Gil, C. R. Segatelli, and A. Silva for their assistance with the field experiments.

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Author notes

  1. Pedro Radi Belícuas

    Present address: Syngenta Seeds Ltda., P.O. Box 585, 38406-270, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

  2. Aurélio Mendes Aguiar

    Present address: Fibria Celulose, Rodovia Gen., Euryale de Jesus Zerbini, Km 84, 12340-010, Jacareí, SP, Brazil

  3. Dyeme Antonio Vieira Bento

    Present address: Nunhes do Brasil Comércio de Sementes Ltda., P.O. Box 2081, 59611-970, Mossoró, RN, Brazil

  4. Tassiano Marinho Maxwell Câmara

    Present address: Embrapa/Tabuleiros Costeiros, P.O.Box 2013, 57100-000, Rio Largo, AL, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Agriculture College “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of São Paulo, P.O. Box 83, 13400-970, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Pedro Radi Belícuas, Aurélio Mendes Aguiar, Dyeme Antonio Vieira Bento, Tassiano Marinho Maxwell Câmara & Cláudio Lopes de Souza Junior

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  1. Pedro Radi Belícuas
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  2. Aurélio Mendes Aguiar
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Correspondence to Cláudio Lopes de Souza Junior.

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Belícuas, P.R., Aguiar, A.M., Bento, D.A.V. et al. Inheritance of the stay-green trait in tropical maize. Euphytica 198, 163–173 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-014-1106-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-014-1106-4

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