Cereal Research Communications
Volume/Issue:
Volume 35: Issue 3
Advances in maize breeding through the cumulative complex improvement of sources (Review)
Author:
G. Hadi Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Martonvásár Hungary

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Pages:
1519–1526
Online Publication Date:
07 Aug 2007
Publication Date:
01 Sep 2007
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/crc.35.2007.3.16
Keywords:
Zea mays ; diversity; genetic resources; heterosis sources
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Maize breeding, on which the future of maize production is based, can be expected to undergo further important developments in the 21 st century. Opportunities for development are latent in a more scientific approach to production methods and in the better exploitation of the available genetic resources. There is no lack of favourable gene combinations contributing to higher yield (e.g. 20–22 t/ha). However, the genes and gene combinations controlling the improvement and stabilisation of performance are unfortunately scattered over various different races, varieties and individual plants, where they occur at low frequency. Combination breeding and, more recently, cumulative source management are designed to collect these genes and concentrate them in special parental lines and heterosis sources.The pure line method has been a basic procedure in maize breeding for the last 100 years, and is likely to remain so for the next 100 years. Combination breeding and cumulative source management are an integral part of this method. The concentration of favourable genes has been facilitated to an unexpected extent by the use of this method. When breeding open-pollinated varieties all the gene combinations required had to be collected into a single population, while in the case of heterosis breeding it is sufficient if the male and female parents each contain half the required gene combinations. These are then combined automatically in the course of crossing.Over the last 20 years too little attention has been paid to the breeding of basic material, so the number of heterosis sources has declined and some have become eroded due to unsupervised mixing. There have been few reports on the development of new heterosis sources vying in quality with earlier sources. In the course of hybrid maize breeding, closely related pedigrees have been crossed to develop new elite lines in the hope of quick results. Due to the lack of substantial initial divergence this is unlikely to result in any great increase in yield. Authoritative opinions consider this to be the reason for the slower rate of yield increase, and for the very small differences now existing between the yield levels of rival hybrids.There is no lack of genetic resources, but more attention should be paid to the careful breeding of basic materials. The future of maize breeding will depend on the discovery of new gene combinations more efficient than those currently available, and on their successful concentration in different sources of heterosis.

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Cover Cereal Research Communications
Cereal Research Communications A Quarterly of the Cereal Research Non-Profit Ltd. Company
Print ISSN:
0133-3720
Online ISSN:
1788-9170

 

 

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Cereal Research Communications
Language English
Size A4
Year of
Foundation		 1973
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 4
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 0133-3720 (Print)
ISSN 1788-9170 (Online)

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