Inheritance of Several Cold Tolerance Traits in Corn¹

Abstract

To learn more about early season growth of corn (Zea mays L.), generation means analyses were used to study inheritance of germination at 7.2 C in the laboratory, and emergence, juvenile growth, and yield in the field. Six inbred parents, their 15 F1 hybrids, their 15 F2, and their 30 backcross populations were used in the analyses. The inbreds were classified into warm (W) and cool (C) season groups based upon their reaction to cold and heat stress in previous experiments.For the specific group of parents evaluated, generation means analyses indicated that epistatic gene effects as well as additive and dominance gene effects contributed significantly to the variation observed for germination at 7.2 C in the laboratory and for emergence measured in the field. Seedling vigor or growth after emergence in the field appeared to be conditioned predominantly by additive and dominance gene effects. Although some epistatic gene effects were detected, grain yield in the specific group of parents studied was controlled by additive and dominance gene effects.Contrary to expectations, C ✕ C crosses were no better than W ✕ W or C ✕ W crosses for the cold tolerance traits studied. Percent germination and field emergence data favored W ✕ W crosses, while C ✕ C crosses were slightly better for early season vigor. W ✕ W crosses produced the highest grain yield followed by C ✕ W and C ✕ C crosses.

Cold tolerance in field conditions, its inheritance, agronomic performance and genetic structure of maize lines divergently selected for germination at low temperature

“…Also a study of Maryam and Jones (1983) pointed out an appreciable association between lines per se and hybrid performance for traits connected with cold tolerance. On the contrary, such an association was quite moderate in the studies of Presterl et al (2007) andStrigens et al (2012), was detected only for some traits by Bhosale et al (2007), whereas was not detected by Mc Connell and Gardner (1979b), Aidun et al (1991) and Hodges et al (1997). Hence, it seems that for this issue there is not a univocal indication, very likely because the tested genotypes, the investigated traits and the particular environmental conditions (especially the cold stress levels) can play an important role in affecting the inbred-hybrid relationship.…”

Inheritance of Cold Tolerance at Emergence and during Early Season Growth in Maize

“…Eagles (1982) and Eagles and Hardacre (1979) found that additive and dominance effects were present for time to emergence and percentage emergence. McConnell and Gardner (1979) found that percentage germination had a complex inheritance with significant epistatic effects for several hybrids.…”

Identification of QTLs for maize seed vigor at three stages of seed maturity using a RIL population

“…Various researchers have investigated the genetic variability of germination under controlled-environment or field conditions (Mc Connell and Gardner 1979;Mock and McNeill 1979;Revilla et al 2000). To clarify aspects of seedling germination and growth in maize, Jompuk et al (2005) identified QTLs associated with chilling tolerance in maize seedlings grown under field conditions.…”