Inheritance of resistance to Fusarium ear rot in popcorn

• Published in: Crop breeding and applied biotechnology Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 81 - 88
• Main Authors: Schwantes, Ismael Albino, Amaral Júnior, Antonio Teixeira do, Vivas, Marcelo, Almeida Filho, Janeo Eustáquio de, Kamphorst, Samuel Henrique, Guimarães, Amanda Gonçalves, Khan, Shahid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vicosa Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology 01-01-2018
• Subjects: AGRONOMY; Alleles; BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY; Crop yield; Ear rot; Fungi; Fusarium; Grain; Heredity; Heritability; Inbreeding; Incidence; Inheritances; Kernels; diallel crosses; additive-dominance model; Genetic information
• ISSN: 1518-7853; 1984-7033; 1984-7033
• DOI: 10.1590/1984-70332018v18n1a11

To date, no studies on the inheritance of Fusarium spp. ear rot resistance in popcorn are available. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the additive-dominance model to estimate the genetic components of variance, heritability and the inheritance pattern in a diallel for popcorn, by Hayman’s approach. The experiment was carried out in two environments, using eight parent lines. The following traits were measured: grain yield (GY), popping expansion (PE), incidence of ears infected by Fusarium (FusIE), total number of kernels infected by fungi (FunIK) and total number of kernels infected by Fusarium spp. (FusIK). The results indicated that the incidence of FusIK (Fusarium-infected kernels), FunIK (fungus-infected kernels), and FusIE (Fusarium-infected ears) is controlled by dominant genes. Parent L77 had a high number of favorable alleles for all resistance-related traits, as well as for PE. The strategy recommended for reduction of FunIK, FusIK, and FusIE consists of exploiting hetorosis using inbred lines with favorable alleles.