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Quantitative genetic investigations of yield of maize

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Summary

Numerous quantitative genetic studies of yield of maize, conducted at North Carolina State University, are reviewed in order to provide a joint interpretation of the various kinds of evidence found. Estimates of variance components and the comparison of observed and expected response to selection have led to the following conclusions:

  1. 1.

    Sufficient additive genetic variance for yield exists within many locally adapted maize populations to permit improvement by selection.

  2. 2.

    Average dominance for genes affecting yield of ear corn is in the range of partial to complete.

  3. 3.

    Overdominance is not a prevalent source of genetic variation for yield.

  4. 4.

    Linkage disequilibrium can result in effects which mimic overdominance. These effects diminish with random mating.

  5. 5.

    Epistatic variance (i. e., genetic variance not accounted for by additive and dominance variances) is negligible in the varieties, Jarvis and Indian Chief, and in the F 1 hybrid.

  6. 6.

    Short term predictions of response to full-sib and to reciprocal selection, based on genetic theory and computed from reasonably precise estimates of variances, are reasonably reliable.

Zusammenfassung

Die Untersuchung beruht auf 5jährigen Leistungsprüfungen (1958–1962), ausgeführt an zufälligen Stichproben aus kommerziellen Varietäten von Hühnern, die in Iowa auf Legeleistung gezüchtet wurden. In jedem Jahr wurden 15 oder 16 Varietäten von 15–20 Farmen auf Unterschiede in Legeleistung und anderen wirtschaftlich wichtigen Merkmalen untersucht. Die Varietäten wurden in zweifacher Wiederholung sowohl in zufallsverteilten Blocks als auch in Gitteranlagen geprüft. Die Daten wurden in Varianzkomponenten zerlegt, um die relative Bedeutung der Varietäten- und die der Varietäten ×-Farm-Interaktionsvarianz zu bestimmen. Das Verhältnis der Varietäten zur Gesamtvarianz war auf der Basis der Wiederholungsmittel für Eizahl, Stallmortalität, Körpergewicht der Adulten und Eigröße jeweils 0,33, 0,22, 0,26 und 0,42. Der geschätzte genetische Fortschritt in der Legeleistung war bei Verwendung der ertragreichsten unter den 16 getesteten Varietäten 11,5 Eier. Wenn die Selektion der Rasse auf einem Ertragsindex beruht, der mit Hilfe der multiplen Regression des erwarteten Einkommens auf die vier obigen Merkmale bestimmt wird, so ist zu erwarten, daß die geschätzte korrelierte Antwort in einer Steigerung der Eizahl um 11,7, einer Verminderung der Mortalität um 1,8%, einer Abnahme des Körpergewichts um 0,27 kg und einer Zunahme des Eigewichts um 6,5 g je Dutzend besteht. Eine Analyse des optimalen Einsatzes der Prüfverfahren auf maximalen genetischen Fortschritt zeigt, daß unter der Voraussetzung, daß etwa 160 Prüfglieder zur Verfügung stehen, ca. 40–80 Varietäten auf 2 bis 4 Farmen in einfacher Wiederholung getestet werden sollten.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina

    R. H. Moll & H. F. Robinson

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  1. R. H. Moll
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  2. H. F. Robinson
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Additional information

Dedicated to Dr. George F. Sprague on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

Contribution from the Genetics Department, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Raleigh. Published with the approval of the Director of Research as Paper No. 2325 of the Journal Series. The research was supported in part by Rockefeller Grant 60179, and in part by Public Health Service Research Grant GM 11546. The computing was supported in part by NIH Grant FR-00011.

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Moll, R.H., Robinson, H.F. Quantitative genetic investigations of yield of maize. Züchter / Genet. Breed. Res. 37, 192–205 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329529

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329529

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