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Parent‐Offspring Popping Expansion Correlations in Progeny of Dent Corn ✕ Popcorn and Flint Corn ✕ Popcorn Crosses 1
Author(s) -
Robbins W. A.,
Ashman R. B.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1984.0011183x002400010027x
Subject(s) - zea mays , biology , population , inbred strain , horticulture , mathematics , agronomy , genetics , medicine , environmental health , gene
Experiments were conducted to determine the potential for use of dent ✕ popcorn ( Zea mays L.) and flint ✕ popcorn crosses as breeding material for popcorn improvement. Two popcorn inbreds were crossed to both a dent and a flint inbred and several F 1 plants from each cross were selfed. F 2 plants from each of the four crosses were grown in 1979, self‐pollinated, and crossed to a single‐cross popcorn tester. The ears from the F 2 plants were evaluated for popping expansion. The F 3 and test‐cross families were grown in 1980 and evaluated for popping expansion. The popping expansion differences among the F 3 families from all four crosses were highly significant. Linear correlations between the F 2 and the F 3 , and the F 2 and the test‐cross popping expansions were determined, and all correlation coefficients were highly significant. In the correlations of the F 2 with the F 3 the two flint ✕ popcorn crosses had coefficients of +0.84** (significant at the 0.01 level of probability) and +0.81**, which were the highest obtained, and the two dent ✕ popcorn crosses had coefficients at +0.63* and +0.76*. These high correlations, and the significant differences among F 3 families, show that selection for popping expansion in F 2 ears would be effective in population improvement. F 3 families from the dent and flint corn crosses to one popcorn inbred had similar popping expansion means and ranges, indicating that popping expansion could be as easily recovered from crosses to dent corn as from crosses to flint corn.