Yugoslav local germplasm in hybrid maize breeding

Abstract

When the spread of hybrid maize began in the mid-20th century, local breeding materials were collected and assembled in gene banks in order to prevent their deterioration and enable their utilization in breeding to develop hybrid varieties. Numerous inbred lines from local populations were selected. The present study includes only those lines from the first cycle of selection that were used for the development of commercial hybrids. The contribution of domestic inbred lines to modern maize breeding consists in the following: 1) Domestic inbred lines possess great variability for most of the agronomically important traits. In nearly every group of lines (lines of the same origin comprise one group), lines with desirable traits have been found, lines that now represent new sources of variability in breeding programs on: grain yield, resistance to lodging, early maturity, ear bareness, grain quality and other traits. 2) The domestic inbreds differ in their heterotic potential for grain yield when crossed with the inbred testers B73 (BSSS germplasm) and Mo17 (Lancaster Sure Crop germplasm). Lines originating from the populations Vukovarski Žuti Zuban, Šidski Žuti Zuban, Novosadski Zlatni Zuban, and Novosadski Žuti Zuban combine better with the inbred tester Mo17 than with B73, so they belong to the BSSS heterotic group. Lines originating from the populations Bankut Bajsa and Sočice are neutral, i.e. they respond equally to both types of germplasm (BSSS and Lancaster), so they can be said to belong to a new heterotic group.