Genetic characterization of maize inbred lines and their mutual affinities.

Z. Bulińska-Radomska

Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Radzików,05-870 Błonie, Poland (Poland)

J. Adamczyk

Plant Breeding Smolice Ltd., 63-743 Smolice, Poland (Poland)

Z. Królikowski

Plant Breeding Smolice Ltd., 63-743 Smolice, Poland (Poland)

Abstract

Twenty-five inbred lines of maize assigned to six heterotic groups and developed in Poland were studied electrophoretically to determine their purity and mutual relationships. The electrophoretic data were analyzed by principal component and cluster analyses. All lines (except five) were monomorphic in each enzyme studied. Electrophoretic affinities of inbred lines were, with some exception, were in accordance with the expectation inferred from their pedigrees. Lines of identical pedigree but with small differences in phenotypic or developmental characteristics had the lowest dissimilarity coefficient values and in cluster and principal component analyses behaved accordingly. They showed however diverse levels of clustering and dissimilarity coefficient values, which most likely reflected their departure from the common parental gene pool, which occurred in the course of breeding manipulations. Lines, which had one parent in common, were less similar to each other than those with identical pedigree. The most distinct electrophretically were lines with complex or dissimilar pedigree formulae as was confirmed by cluster and principal component analyses.

Keywords:

Inbred lines, enzymes, electrophoresis, similarity, pedigree, heterosis, maize