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SEEDS

Seed Quality Assurance in Maize Breeding Programs: Tests to Explain Variations in Maize Inbreds and Populations

^a Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., 166 Seed Science Center, Ames, IA 50011
^b Dep. of Statistics, Iowa State Univ
^c Corn Insect and Crop Genetics Res. Unit, USDA-ARS, Ames, IA
^d Clinton, IL. This journal paper of the Iowa Agric. and Home Econ. Exp. Stn., Ames, IA, Project no. 3638 and 3773, was partially supported by Hatch Act, State of Iowa funds

^* Corresponding author (susana{at}iastate.edu).

Maize (Zea mays L.) breeders are interested in evaluating the seed quality of their inbred lines, as seed quality has a strong relationship to field emergence. There is little information, however, on the influence of the seed quality of the inbred on field emergence of the hybrid. The objectives of this research were to (i) determine whether seed quality tests and a seed quality index of the inbred parents and F₂ seed are correlated with field emergence of F₁ hybrids, and (ii) determine how many tests are necessary to calculate this index. Standard germination (SG), saturated cold (SC), and soak (Soak) tests, and the inbred quality index (IQI) were calculated on inbred parents and their corresponding F₂ progeny, and field emergence was measured on associated F₁ hybrids produced in Clinton, IL in 2002 and 2003. The tests and index of the parental inbreds and F₂ progeny correlated poorly with early field emergence of the F₁ hybrids. All tests were required to calculate the seed quality index. By averaging several seed quality tests into a single index, the poor seed quality performance of inbreds and F₂ populations in some tests can be masked by other tests. The seed quality index might be useful when ranking inbreds based on seed quality but not as a selection tool.

Abbreviations: FG, fast green test • GEM, Germplasm Enhancement of Maize • GDU, growing degree units • IQI, inbred quality index • PCA, principal component analysis • SC, saturated cold test • SG, standard germination test • Soak, soak test

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Received for publication April 30, 2007.