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Genetic analysis of kernel oil content in tropical maize with design III and QTL mapping

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Abstract

Oil content and grain yield in maize are negatively correlated, and so far the development of high-oil high-yielding hybrids has not been accomplished. Then a fully understand of the inheritance of the kernel oil content is necessary to implement a breeding program to improve both traits simultaneously. Conventional and molecular marker analyses of the design III were carried out from a reference population developed from two tropical inbred lines divergent for kernel oil content. The results showed that additive variance was quite larger than the dominance variance, and the heritability coefficient was very high. Sixteen QTL were mapped, they were not evenly distributed along the chromosomes, and accounted for 30.91% of the genetic variance. The average level of dominance computed from both conventional and QTL analysis was partial dominance. The overall results indicated that the additive effects were more important than the dominance effects, the latter were not unidirectional and then heterosis could not be exploited in crosses. Most of the favorable alleles of the QTL were in the high-oil parental inbred, which could be transferred to other inbreds via marker-assisted backcross selection. Our results coupled with reported information indicated that the development of high-oil hybrids with acceptable yields could be accomplished by using marker-assisted selection involving oil content, grain yield and its components. Finally, to exploit the xenia effect to increase even more the oil content, these hybrids should be used in the Top Cross™ procedure.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-308499/2006-9), and by 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. Authors are grateful to Dr. Anete Pereira de Souza, from the University of Campinas, for the genetic mapping of the population; to Dr. Luis Alberto Colnago, from Embrapa/Instrumentação, for the analysis of the kernel oil content; and to A. J. Desidério, A. S. Oliveira, A. O. Gil, C. R. Segatelli, and A. Silva for their assistance with the field experiments. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

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Author notes

  1. Mateus Figueiredo Santos

    Present address: Embrapa/Vegetables, P.O. Box 218, 70.359-970, Gama, DF, Brazil

  2. Dyeme Antônio Vieira Bento

    Present address: Nunhes do Brasil Comércio de Sementes Ltda, P.O. Box 2081, 59.611-970, Mossoró, RN, Brazil

  3. Aurélio Mendes Aguiar

    Present address: Fibria Celulose, Rodovia Gen. Euryale de Jesus Zerbini, Km 84, 12.340-010, Jacareí, SP, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of São Paulo, Agriculture College “Luiz de Queiroz”, P.O. Box 83, 13.400-970, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Gustavo Vitti Môro, Mateus Figueiredo Santos, Dyeme Antônio Vieira Bento, Aurélio Mendes Aguiar & Cláudio Lopes de Souza Jr.

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  1. Gustavo Vitti Môro
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  2. Mateus Figueiredo Santos
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Correspondence to Cláudio Lopes de Souza Jr..

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Môro, G.V., Santos, M.F., Bento, D.A.V. et al. Genetic analysis of kernel oil content in tropical maize with design III and QTL mapping. Euphytica 185, 419–428 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-011-0604-x

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