article · Agronomy
Late wilt disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthiopsis maydis, significantly threatens maize production. Breeding maize hybrids that combine strong grain yield with resistance to this pathogen is critical for crop security. Ten diverse yellow maize inbred lines were evaluated across crosses with three high-yielding testers to examine combining abilities, agronomic characteristics, and disease resistance under different nitrogen levels. Non-additive gene action played the dominant role in controlling earliness, yield, and resistance to late wilt. Two parental inbred lines, designated L4 and L5, proved to be valuable sources of beneficial alleles. Furthermore, four specific hybrid crosses demonstrated early maturity, high grain yield, and robust resistance to late wilt disease. Genetic distance analysis using simple sequence repeat markers grouped the parent lines into three primary clusters, while specific combining ability showed strong potential as an indicator for hybrid yield and disease resistance performance.
Late wilt disease causes substantial losses in maize crops, threatening food supplies and agricultural livelihoods. Identifying parent lines and cross combinations that deliver high grain output alongside disease resistance allows plant breeders to develop more resilient varieties. Using molecular markers and combining ability estimates also makes breeding pipelines faster and more cost-effective by reducing the number of crosses requiring full field trials.
This research provides applied breeding material and genetic markers for maize seed companies and agricultural breeding programmes. The identified parent lines and four high-performing hybrid crosses represent applied, field-tested assets that could be advanced into regional trials or incorporated into commercial hybrid pipelines to counter late wilt disease. However, commercial release would require further multi-location trials and formal variety registration.
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Late wilt disease (LWD) caused by the fungus Magnaporthiopsis maydis poses a major threat to maize production. Developing high-yielding and resistant hybrids is vital to cope with this destructive disease. The present study aimed at assessing general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities for agronomic traits and resistance to LWD, identifying high-yielding hybrids with high resistance to LWD, determining the parental genetic distance (GD) using SSR markers and investigating its relationship with hybrid performance and SCA effects. Ten diverse yellow maize inbred lines assembled from different origins and three high-yielding testers were crossed using line × tester mating design. The obtained 30 test-crosses plus the check hybrid TWC-368 were evaluated in two field trials. Earliness and agronomic traits were evaluated in two different locations. While resistance to LWD was tested under two nitrogen levels (low and high levels) in a disease nursery that was artificially infected by the pathogen Magnaporthiopsis maydis. Highly significant differences were detected among the evaluated lines, testers, and their corresponding hybrids for most measured traits. The non-additive gene action had more important role than the additive one in controlling the inheritance of earliness, grain yield, and resistance to LWD. The inbred lines L4 and L5 were identified as an excellent source of favorable alleles for high yielding and resistance to LWD. Four hybrids L5 × T1, L9 × T1, L4 × T2, and L5 × T2, exhibited earliness, high grain yield, and high resistance to LWD. Parental GD ranged from 0.60 to 0.97, with an average of 0.81. The dendrogram grouped the parental genotypes into three main clusters, which could help in reducing number of generated crosses that will be evaluated in field trials. SCA displayed significant association with the hybrid performance for grain yield and resistance to LWD, which suggests SCA is a good predictor for grain yield and resistance to LWD.
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DOI: 10.3390/agronomy11050898
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