Genetic Effects from Long-Term Selection in Populations of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

The ultimate objective of a crop improvement program is to identify genetically superior genotypes to be used as cultivars. The stability of a cultivar in space and in time is crucial to its practical usefulness over a range of environments. Routinely, plant breeders apply recurrent selection techniques to increase the frequency of alleles favorable to the quantitative trait of interest and, consequently, to increase the probability of being able to identify desirable genotypes. For maize (Zea mays L) there is an option to apply either intra-population or inter-population selection to improve a breeding population.