Genetic diversity of tropical early-maturing maize inbreds and their performance in hybrid combinations under drought and optimum growing conditions

Abstract

a b s t r a c tHybrid development is enhanced by the assessment and understanding of genetic diversity and distance within inbreds. One hundred and fifty hybrids derived from 30 early-maturing inbreds plus six checks were evaluated at three locations in Nigeria for 2 years to assess their performance under drought and well-watered conditions. In addition, twenty three microsatellite markers were employed to assess genetic diversity of selected 42 inbreds. Significant differences were observed among inbreds and hybrids for most traits under both research conditions. A total of 130 alleles were detected ranging from two for nc133 to nine for phi299852 with an average of 5.7 alleles per locus. Polymorphic information content ranged from 0.17 for phi308707 to 0.77 for phi084 with an average of 0.54. Thirty-one unique alleles were detected in 21 inbreds. Microsatellite markers classified the inbred lines into five groups. Genetic distance estimates among pairs of inbreds ranged from 0.42 (TZEI 26 vs TZEI 108) to 0.85 (TZEI 24 vs TZEI 4) with an average of 0.67. Correlation between microsatellite-based GD estimates of the parental lines and their F 1 hybrids were not significant for grain yield and other traits under drought and well-watered conditions. However, significant correlations existed between F 1 hybrid grain yield and heterosis under drought and well-watered conditions. TZEI 31 × TZEI 18 was identified as the highest-yielding and stable hybrid across environments and should be promoted for adoption by farmers in West and Central Africa.

Diallel analysis and genetic diversity of some yellow maize inbred lines (Zea mays L.) using RAPD and SSR markers

“…These results indicate that it is difficult to predict the F 1 hybrids grain yield from the genetic distance of the inbred lines used in this study. These results agree well with the findings of Menkir et al (2010), Akaogu et al (2012) and Oyekunle et al (2015). They reported insignificant correlation between molecular marker-based GD and F 1 hybrids grain yield.…”

Genetic Vulnerability and the Relationship of Commercial Germplasms of Maize in Brazil with the Nested Association Mapping Parents

“…The greater the estimate of these indices, the greater the genetic diversity in the company germplasms and, hence, the lower the kinship between the hybrids of these companies [32]. In this context, Dow Agrosciences had similar estimates to Biomatrix, Dekalb, and DuPont Pioneer, but with more analyzed hybrids.…”

Divergence among maize genotypes with different kernel types according to SSR marker analysis

“…A possible reason for these results could be the fact that the tested material consisted of very divergent maize groups. OYEKUNLE et al (2015) reported somewhat smaller total number of alleles (130) but for 42 early-maturing maize lines analyzed using 23 SSR markers. Also, the average number of alleles of 5.7 was slightly smaller comparing to our results.…”