Preliminary Breeding of Superior Maize Combinations in Zhaotong,Yunnan

[Objectives]This study was conducted to select superior maize combinations.[Methods]With the control maize variety Haihe 2 in the middle altitude area of Yunnan Province as the control,adopting a single-factor randomized block three-replicate experiment design,a one-year field cultivation experiment was carried out in Luyin Village,Yongfeng Town,Zhaoyang District,Zhaotong City.[Results]A total of 11 new superior maize combinations including ZT-1 and ZT-2 were obtained.Through comprehensive comparison analysis with Haihe 2(CK),we selected six superior combinations of ZT-1,ZT-3,ZT-4,ZT-6,ZT-7 and ZT-9,which showed overall performance better than the control Haihe 2(CK)in terms of resistance,yield,and ear traits.[Conclusions]The selected 6 superior combinations have promotion value,and are recommended for higher-level trials and demonstrations.

Development and application of marker-assisted reverse breeding using hybrid maize germplasm

Humankind has been through different periods of agricultural improvement aiming at enhancing our food supply and the performance of food crops. In recent years, whole genome sequencing and deep understanding of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms have facilitated new plant breeding approaches to meet the challenge of growing population, dwindling resources, and changing climate. Here we proposed a simple and fast molecular breeding method, marker-assisted reverse breeding（MARB）, which will revert any maize hybrid into inbred lines with any level of required similarity to its original parent lines. Since all the pericarp DNA of a hybrid is from the maternal parent, whereas one half of the embryo DNA is from the maternal parent and the other half from the paternal parent, so we firstly extract DNA from seed embryo and pericarp of a selected elite hybrid separately and then we derived the genotypes of the two parents with high-density single nucleotide polymorphism（SNP） chips. The following marker-assisted selection was performed based on an Illumina low-density SNP chip designed with 192 SNPs polymorphic between the two parental genotypes, which were uniformly distributed on 10 maize chromosomes. This method has the advantages of fast speed, fixed heterotic mode, and quick recovery of beneficial parental genotypes compared to traditional pedigree breeding using elite hybrids. Meanwhile, MARB has the advantage of not requiring sophisticated transformation and double haploid（DH） technologies over RNA interference（RNAi）-mediated reverse breeding. In addition, MARB can also be used with feed corn harvested from big farms, which is often similar to F_2 populations, and the relevant transgenes in the population can be eliminated by marker-assisted selection. As a result, the whole global commercial maize hybrids can be utilized as germplasm for breeding with MARB technology. Starting with an F_2 population derived from an elite hybrid, our experiment indicates that with three cycles of marker-assisted selection, selected lines could recover over 80% of the parental genotypes and associated beneficial genes in a fixed heterotic mode. The success application of MARB in maize suggests that this technology is applicable to any hybrid crop to breed new inbreds with improved hybrid performance but the same heterotic mode. As chip technology becomes cheap, it would be expected that polymorphism screening and following marker-assisted selection could be done with one all-purpose high density chip. Several issues associated with MARB were discussed, including its rationale, efficiency and advantages, along with food/feed and environmental safety issues and applications of MARB in variety protection and marker-assisted plant breeding.

Genetic Analyses of Tolerance to Low Nitrogen in Tropical Maize Germplasm

Six tropical maize inbred lines were crossed in a half diallel fashion and evaluated along with their F1 hybrids under low N (0 kg/ha) and high N(170 kg/ha), for grain yield, ear diameter, ear length, number of rows per ear, 100-kernel weight, ear leaf area, shoot dry weight, ear leaf chlorophyll content and plant height to determine their response to different level of N. Grain yield and ear leaf chlorophyll content measured by 48% lower under -N than under + N, and were most affected by -N. Ear length had the highest reduction under -N of 22%. Plant height and shoot dry weight were both reduced by 28%. Diallel analysis indicated significant additive as well as dominance variance for grain yield under -N. The same results were shown when one tolerant x nontolerant cross from the diallel hybrids was subjected to generation mean analysis which also indicated significant epistatic effects. These results suggest that S1 or S2 progeny selection may be an effective means of improving grain yield of tropical maize under low soil N.

Root architecture

Numerous research publications over the past 20 years have made it quite clear that a better understanding of the molecular and genetic basis for variation in root system architecture（RSA）will greatly aid the development of crop varieties with improved and more ef ficient nutrient and water acquisition under limiting conditions.