Maize (Zea mays L) grain losses due to grain weevils threaten food security in poor rural communities where grain is stored on farm without any chemical treatment in developing countries. Progress in developing high-yielding and... more
Maize (Zea mays L) grain losses due to grain weevils threaten food security in poor rural communities where grain is stored on farm without any chemical treatment in developing countries. Progress in developing high-yielding and weevil-resistant maize varieties is scarcely reported in the literature. Knowledge of the mode of inheritance for both grain yield and weevil resistance in elite maize germplasm would be crucial in designing viable breeding strategies. Therefore hybrids that were generated in a North Carolina design II mating scheme were evaluated for grain yield over three environments. Hybrids were also evaluated for maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motsch) resistance under controlled temperature and relative humidity in the laboratory. Results revealed that only a few hybrids combined high grain yield potential and maize weevil-resistance reflecting the challenges which may be encountered in developing productive hybrids. However, highly significant differences between hy...
The study was carried out to determine the effect of male planting date (MPD) and female plant population (FPP) on the grain yield (GY) performance of a three-way hybrid and to evaluate Hybrid-Maize simulation model for grain yield... more
The study was carried out to determine the effect of male planting date (MPD) and female plant population (FPP) on the grain yield (GY) performance of a three-way hybrid and to evaluate Hybrid-Maize simulation model for grain yield estimation in hybrid seed maize production. Fifteen treatment combinations of five MPD as a deviation from the female planting date and three FPP replicated three times were used. The Hybrid-Maize simulation model programme was used to forecast the possible GY outcomes for the fifteen treatments of the experiment using estimated parameters and weather data for the 2006/7 season. The field experiment produced significant (P < 0.005) main effects but non-significant interaction effects for GY, yield components and antheis-silking interval (ASI). Female seed yield was affected by time of male pollen shed relative to female silking: ASI, with highest yields associated with close synchrony (ASI= +/-3 days). ASI had a significant effect on the number of kern...
Maize is the principal crop for food security and livestock feed in South Africa. It is also an industrial crop and the produce is exported to many countries in the world. Therefore there is high seed demand which prompts competition for... more
Maize is the principal crop for food security and livestock feed in South Africa. It is also an industrial crop and the produce is exported to many countries in the world. Therefore there is high seed demand which prompts competition for breeding productive hybrids. However direct introduction of tropical hybrids into the warm temperate South African environments has not been successful. Competitive advantages can be obtained by implementing a “shuttle breeding” programme whereby part of the breeding is done in Zimbabwe and South Africa to minimise research and production costs. Introgression of temperate germplasm in tropical elite inbred lines can also be pursued to obtain adapted hybrids. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the effectiveness of introgression of temperate germplasm into tropical elite maize inbred lines as a strategy to enhance adaptability of new hybrids to South Africa, and also to determine both breeding and economic value of a “shuttle breeding” prog...
Knowledge of the effects of introgressing temperate maize germplasm in tropical elite inbred lines on genetic variation and relationship between grain yield and its components is limited. In this study, the objective was to evaluate... more
Knowledge of the effects of introgressing temperate maize germplasm in tropical elite inbred lines on genetic variation and relationship between grain yield and its components is limited. In this study, the objective was to evaluate introgressed maize inbred lines for selected economic traits. Field evaluation was carried out on 122 inbred lines comprising sets of introgressed lines from three selection environments, parental inbred lines and two common checks. Genetic variation was significant (P < 0.05) for all the major economic traits among inbred lines within and across sets. Heritability estimates ranged from low (0.21%) to high (91%) for stalk lodging and silking days, respectively. Comparison of means of inbred lines sets illustrated that environmental effect had influence on grain yield of introgressed lines. Grain yield and ear prolificacy performance across sets also illustrated that introgression of temperate germplasm in tropical elite inbred lines was effective. Spe...
Grain yield potential of new maize hybrid varieties across target environments contributes to the uptake of these varieties by farmers. Evaluation of single-cross hybrids developed from test crossing introgressed inbred lines bred for... more
Grain yield potential of new maize hybrid varieties across target environments contributes to the uptake of these varieties by farmers. Evaluation of single-cross hybrids developed from test crossing introgressed inbred lines bred for three distinct environments to elite tropical inbred line testers was carried out. The study’s objective was to assess grain yield stability and genotype adaptability of the single-cross hybrids across South African environments relative to adapted commercial hybrid checks. One hundred and twenty-two introgressed inbred lines developed using the pedigree breeding program were crossed to four tropical elite inbred line testers using line × tester mating design to obtain 488 experimental single cross hybrids. Subject to availability of adequate seed for evaluation, a panel of 444 experimental single-cross hybrids was evaluated using an augmented design in two experiments defined as Population A and B for the study’s convenience in South African environme...
Dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for small-scale farmers in eastern Africa who nonetheless, grow beans with limited phosphorus (P) fertilizer supply or none at all. Phosphorus rank second, after nitrogen (N),... more
Dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for small-scale farmers in eastern Africa who nonetheless, grow beans with limited phosphorus (P) fertilizer supply or none at all. Phosphorus rank second, after nitrogen (N), as the most limiting soil nutrient in bean production in East African soils. This study was conducted to determine combining ability for five polygenic traits in the red mottled, large seeded bean market class, under low and high soil P conditions and two locations. Three parents tolerant to low soil P were hybridized with five well adapted, but non-low P tolerant lines in a diallel mating scheme. The resulting 28 F1 hybrids were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications, under low and high soil P conditions at two sites. There were highly significant (P ≤ 0.001) differences among the genotypes for all the traits under all the study conditions. The GCA mean squares were highly significant (P ≤ 0.001) for these traits, indicating importance of additive effects for both study conditions and sites. The GCA × Environment and SCA × Environment were significant for all the parameters and test conditions. CAL143 had positive GCA effects that were significant; except for 100-seed weight under P stress; for all the traits and under all the study conditions. The negative GCA effects for the none P tolerant parents indicate that they impacted positively in imparting earliness.
Nematodes cause substantial grain yield loss in susceptible maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars. This study was conducted to estimate general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA) and genetic effects associated with nematode... more
Nematodes cause substantial grain yield loss in susceptible maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars. This study was conducted to estimate general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA) and genetic effects associated with nematode resistance in maize. The 30 F 1 hybrids generated from a 6 × 6 diallel and two local checks were evaluated in 2009 at three sites in Uganda. A split plot design was used with nematode treatments serving as whole plots and the hybrids as subplots but arranged in an 8 × 4 spatially adjusted alpha-lattice design. The experiment was replicated three times. Results showed GCA to be important for the reduction of P. zeae and Meloidogyne spp. densities and increase of root mass, with a contribution of 72 to 93% of the phenotypic variance. Inbreds MP709 and CML206 had the highest GCA for Pratylenchus zeae resistance, whereas for grain yield, it was CML444, CML312 and CML395 that were outstanding. The SCA influenced plant height and grain yield under nematode infestation, contributing 43 and 58% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. Observed reciprocal differences due to maternal effects also played a role in influencing the grain yield under nematode infestation. Overdominance genetic effects explained the non-additive variance recorded for the plant height, grain yield, number of root lesions, and P. zeae and Meloidogyne spp. densities under nematode infestation. The parents MP709, CML206, 5057, and CML444 contributed most of the dominant genes for the P. zeae resistance in all their crosses. The parent CML444 contributed most of the dominant genes for improved grain yield in all of its crosses. The high GCA effects among some parents support their utility in breeding of widely adapted nematode-resistant cultivars. The dominant genes and SCA effects would favour pedigree and various sib tests to improve grain yield under nematode pressure.
Maize grey leaf spot (GLS) disease remains an important foliar disease in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for more than 25% yield losses in maize. Information on inheritance of GLS resistance of germplasm adapted to African environments is... more
Maize grey leaf spot (GLS) disease remains an important foliar disease in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for more than 25% yield losses in maize. Information on inheritance of GLS resistance of germplasm adapted to African environments is required in new sources being identified. Therefore, hybrids generated from a 10 × 10 half-diallel mating of tropical advanced maize inbred lines were evaluated in six environments to determine combining ability, genotype × environment interaction (G × E) and the impact of GLS disease on grain yield. General combining ability effects were highly significant and accounted for 72 and 68% of the variation for GLS resistance and grain yield, respectively. Significant specific combining ability effects associated with reduced disease levels were observed in some hybrids when one parent was resistant, and these may be exploited in developing single cross maize hybrids. Regression analysis showed a 260–320 kg ha−1 decrease in maize grain yield per each increase in GLS disease severity score, and significant associations (r = −0.31 to −0.60) were observed between grain yield and GLS severity scores. This showed the potential of GLS disease to reduce yield in susceptible varieties grown under favourable disease conditions, without control measures. Genotype and genotype × environment biplots and correlation analysis indicated that the significant G × E observed was not due to changes in hybrid ranking, implying absence of a significant crossover interaction. Therefore, predominance of additive gene effects imply that breeding progress for GLS disease resistance would be made through selection and this could be achieved at a few hot-spot sites, such as Baynesfield and Cedara locations in South Africa, and still deploy the resistant germplasm to other environments in which they are adapted.
Anthracnose is a serious disease affecting dry bean production especially in the cool highland areas worldwide. The objective of this research was to study the inheritance of anthracnose resistance in market-class dry beans. A complete... more
Anthracnose is a serious disease affecting dry bean production especially in the cool highland areas worldwide. The objective of this research was to study the inheritance of anthracnose resistance in market-class dry beans. A complete diallel set of crosses was generated from nine diverse parents comprising six resistant and three susceptible to anthracnose. The F1 and F2 crosses and parents were artificially inoculated with Colletotriclum lindenumthianum Race-767 in a growth room. There was significant variation for anthracnose resistance among genotypes. General combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability effects were significant for resistance, indicating importance of both additive and non-additive effects, respectively. Preponderance of GCA effects (66%) suggested that additive effects were more important than non-additive effects (24%), which were also reflected by high heritability estimates (70%), and suggested that simple selection or backcrossing would be useful for improving the resistance in market class varieties. The study was not conclusive on whether epistatic gene action played a major role, but if available it might have biased the dominance gene effects. Reciprocal effects (10%) were not significant (P > 0.05), suggesting that cytoplasmic genes did not play a major role in modifying anthracnose resistance. Parental lines G2333, AB136, NAT002, and NAT003 showed highly negative GCA effects qualifying them as suitable parents for transferring resistance genes to their progenies. A few major genes, 1–3, displaying partial dominance conditioned anthracnose resistance, suggesting a possibility of using marker-assisted selection to improve anthracnose resistance in market-class dry beans.
Devastating maize grain yield and quality losses are caused by Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides and Stenocarpella maydis ear rots especially in tropical countries. Therefore, combining ability of tropical maize populations for... more
Devastating maize grain yield and quality losses are caused by Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides and Stenocarpella maydis ear rots especially in tropical countries. Therefore, combining ability of tropical maize populations for ear rot severity and ear rot-related traits was investigated. Ten full-sib progenies, comprising one resistant and one susceptible from each of the five populations, were selected for mating in a 10 × 10 full diallel. The full-sib progeny crosses were evaluated across two environments with two replications in Zambia. To determine resistance across three ear rots that occur together in Zambia, the crosses were artificially inoculated with a mixture of Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides and Stenocarpella maydis isolates. There were marked differences between environment main effects and their interaction with GCA and SCA effects were highly significant, suggesting observation of genotype × environment interaction effects. Both additive and non-additive gene effects were significant for ear rot severity. Highly significant reciprocal differences were also revealed, suggesting that cytoplasmic gene effects and their interaction with nuclear genes were responsible in modifying resistance across the three ear rot diseases in the full-sib progenies that were derived from the five tropical maize populations.
