Inbred lines of different cycles of selection as donors of favourable alleles for the improvement of F1 maize hybrids

Abstract

Eight BSSS and BSCB1 inbred lines of different cycles of selection were studied with the aim to evaluate which inbreds had the highest relative values of favourable alleles for the improvement of the grain yield trait in an elite single cross maize hybrid. Based on estimated parameters ?G, UBND, PTC and NI it was determined that the inbreds B73 (C5) and B84 (C7), originating form the synthetic population BSSS had highest number of favourable alleles for the improvement of the grain yield. Both these inbreds belong to the later cycles of recurrent selections and proved to be better donors of favourable alleles than inbreds belonging to the earlier cycles of selection. The rank correlations of used parameters were positive and highly significant, while the highest values of correlations for yield were determined between ?G and NI, that is PTC and NI. The highest grain yield was recorded in the hybrid ZPL2 x B73, which also had the highest value of heterosis (174.9%) in the trial for estimation of loci relative values.