Testcross performance of doubled haploid lines from European flint maize landraces is promising for broadening the genetic base of elite germplasm.

Testcross performance of doubled haploid lines from European flint maize landraces is promising for broadening the genetic base of elite germplasm.
Theor Appl Genet. 2019 Mar 15;:
Authors: Brauner PC, Schipprack W, Utz HF, Bauer E, Mayer M, Schön CC, Melchinger AE
Abstract
KEY MESSAGE: Selected doubled haploid lines averaged similar testcross performance as their original landraces, and the best of them approached the yields of elite inbreds, demonstrating their potential to broaden the narrow genetic diversity of the flint germplasm pool. Maize landraces represent a rich source of genetic diversity that remains largely idle because the high genetic load and performance gap to elite germplasm hamper their use in modern breeding programs. Production of doubled haploid (DH) lines can mitigate problems associated with the use of landraces in pre-breeding. Our objective was to assess in comparison with modern materials the testcross performance (TP) of the best 89 out of 389 DH lines developed from six landraces and evaluated in previous studies for line per se performance (LP). TP with a dent tester was evaluated for the six original landraces, ~ 15 DH lines from each landrace selected for LP, and six elite flint inbreds together with nine commercial hybrids for grain and silage traits. Mean TP of the DH lines rarely differed significantly from TP of their corresponding landrace, which averaged in comparison with the mean TP of the e...

Source: TAG. Theoretical and Applied Genetics - March 14, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Brauner PC, Schipprack W, Utz HF, Bauer E, Mayer M, Schön CC, Melchinger AE Tags: Theor Appl Genet Source Type: research