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With 1 figure and 6 tables In maize ( Zea mays L.), as in other cross-pollinated crops, a high mutational load of deleterious recessive alleles hampers the use of landraces in hybrid breeding. The in vivo doubled haploid (DH) technology meanwhile offers great promise in purging such alleles. This approach was employed to three European flint type landraces. Eighty DH lines were evaluated for testcross performance under three farming conditions. Mean testcross performance of DH lines was similar to that of their parental landraces but 22–26% lower than that of present elite flint lines. Highly significant genetic variance existed in each of the three DH-line groups. Coefficients of genetic variation ranged from 6.7 to 7.4. DH-lines derived from ‘Lucq de Béarn’ displayed specific adaptation to N deficiency. The 10% (out of 80) best DH lines surpassed the first-cycle lines by 11% in testcross grain yield and remained only 13% below the elite lines. Altogether, the DH approach proved to be a highly effective tool for gaining access to the hitherto hardly tapped broad genetic diversity of landraces in research and breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars with improved N-use efficiency would be beneficial for low-input production systems. Our objective was to estimate quantitative genetic parameters to optimize breeding programs for improving productivity under low N levels. Results of 21 field experiments with European breeding materials belonging to the flint and dent gene pool are presented. The study was performed during 1989 and 1999 at several locations in typical maize growing regions of Germany and France. All experiments were conducted at high (HN) and low (LN, no N fertilizer applied) N levels. Average grain yield was reduced by 37% at LN compared with HN. Coefficients of genotypic correlation between HN and LN were variable with an average of r[sub G] = 0.74 for grain yield and generally high for grain dry matter content. For grain yield, analyses of variance were computed from relative data, where plot values were expressed as percentage of the trial mean. Variances caused by genotype (G), G × location (L) interaction, and error effects were higher at LN compared with HN, with similar heritabilities at both N levels. For the untransformed data, components of variance were higher at HN than at LN. Genotype × N as well as G × L × N level interaction variances were significant in most experiments. Efficiency of improvement of grain yield at LN through indirect selection at HN was 70% compared with direct selection at LN. A trend toward increased efficiency of direct selection under LN conditions was evident with decreasing grain yield at LN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the desert region of Rajasthan, India, farmers mainly grow pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] landraces. The adoption of modern cultivars is generally low because of their poor adaptation to extreme drought stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of six elite breeding populations and three landraces and to determine the heterotic pattern among the 36 diallel crosses of those populations. Field experiments were conducted in eight environments in India. Mean grain yields (GYs) in the three environments with favorable growing conditions were double to threefold those in the three arid environments. The elite populations generally showed higher GY than the landraces; stover yield (SY) was similar in both population types. The landraces flowered earlier, had a higher tillering potential, and smaller seeds. Mean level of midparent heterosis was generally low, ranging from 0.85% for time to flowering (TF) to 6.57% for SY. For GY, expression of heterosis for individual population crosses was between -14 and +30% under drought stress, and between -9 and +17% in the favorable environments. For SY, mean heterosis was always positive and higher than for GY. The elite × landrace population crosses with high mean GY and high levels of heterosis under drought stress could be beneficial to widen the germplasm base and to combine the high yield potential of elite materials with the good adaptation of the landraces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Maize varieties with improved nitrogen(N)-use efficiency under low soil N conditions can contribute to sustainable agriculture. Tests were carried to see whether selection of European elite lines at low and high N supply would result in hybrids with differential adaptation to these contrasting N conditions. The objective was to analyze whether genotypic differences in N uptake and N-utilization efficiency existed in this material and to what extent these factors contributed to adaptation to low N supply. Twenty-four hybrids developed at low N supply (L × L) were compared with 25 hybrids developed at high N supply (H × H). The N uptake was determined as total above-ground N in whole plants, and N-utilization efficiency as the ratio between grain yield and N uptake in yield trials at four locations and at three N levels each. Highly significant variations as a result of hybrids and hybrids × N-level interaction were observed for grain yield as well as for N uptake and N-utilization efficiency in both hybrid types. Average yields of the L × L hybrids were higher than those of the H × H hybrids by 11.5% at low N supply and 5.4% at medium N level. There was no significant yield difference between the two hybrid types at high N supply. The L × L hybrids showed significantly higher N uptake at the low (12%) and medium (6%) N levels than the H × H hybrids. In contrast, no differences in N-utilization efficiency were observed between the hybrid types. These results indicate that adaptation of hybrids from European elite breeding material to conditions with reduced nitrogen input was possible and was mainly the result of an increase in N-uptake efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers in western Rajasthan (north-west India) produce and maintain their landrace populations of pearl millet through their own distinct seed management practices. The objective of this study was to characterize morphological and agronomic variability of different traits between and within three farmers' populations using quantitative–genetic parameters. Populations examined were a typical landrace and two modified landraces, which were generated through farmer introgression of modern varieties with different levels of subsequent selection. From these three populations, 100 random full-sib progenies were evaluated in field trials at two locations in western Rajasthan over two years. Significant genetic variation existed within the three populations. Estimates of heritability were moderate to high for all observed traits. Predicted selection response for grain yield across environments was 1.6% for the typical landrace and 2.2% for both the modified landraces. Results suggest that the introgression of modern varieties into landraces had increased the genetic diversity. Therefore, farmers' current breeding activities could open up new resources for plant breeding programmes aiming at plant improvement for the semiarid zones of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]