Plant height and ear height are two important agronomic traits in maize. In this study, 11 RIL populations developed by crossing a common parent (Huangzaosi, a foundation inbred line of maize breeding in China) with other 11 elite inbred lines were applied to QTL mapping for plant height and ear height based on phenotype data of three locations in two years. A total of 269 QTL detected by single-environment analysis and 176 QTL by joint analysis were identified across all of six environments, respectively. Collectively, 21 major-effect QTL for plant height and 15 major effect QTL for ear height were detected, which were located on chromosome. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. It was found that the common parent (Huangzaosi) contributed the positive alleles for some QTL across different RIL populations. Five and four environment-insensitive QTL for plant height and ear height were also identified, respectively. Five QTL clustering regions related to plant and ear height, such as bin1.
Maize tassel-related traits are of importance to maize production. QTLs for three tassel-related traits were mapped in 11 RIL populations with the common parent "Huangzaosi" under a single environment and across environments to understand genetic basis of maize tassels. Meanwhile, epistasis among QTLs and QTL by environment interactions (QEI) was analyzed. Totally 15 major constitutive QTLs were detected in at least five environments. Particularly, two constitutive QTLs were detected in bin 3.04 in the Qi 319 and Lü 28 populations, which had an overlapping interval of 226.0-230.1 on the IBM 2008 Neighbors map, with a quite high phenotypic variance explained, and the mean R 2 of 17.4% and 14.4%, respectively. A total of 21 common QTLs were detected in more than two populations, of which five on chromosome 2, 3, 6 and 8 were found in three populations. The QTLs stably expressed under different environments or genetic backgrounds may play an important role in controlling maize tassel-related traits, and can be used as the candidates for fine mapping and positional cloning.
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