QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI FOR FLOWERING, PLANT AND EAR HEIGHT, AND KERNEL TRAITS IN MAIZE

The inheritance of qualitative traits is not well understood. A study was conducted to determine the number and chromosomal locations of qua ntitative trait loci (QTL) controlling male anthesis date; plant and e ar height; kernel weight; and kernel protein, oil, and starch concentr ation in maize (zea mays L.). Two hundred S-1 lines were derived from a single F-1 plant a cross of Illinois High Oil (IHO) by Illinois Low Oil (Early Maturity) [ILO(EM)]. Restriction fragment length polymorphi sm (RFLP) analysis was performance to determine RFLP genotypes of the 200 S-1 families at 80 polymorphic loci spaced on average 24 centimorg ans throughout the genome. The 200 S-1 families were measured for phen otypic traits in replicated field trials during 1992 and 1993. Analysi s of variance detected significant (P < 0.05) associations between sev eral RFLP loci and each phenotypic trait. a total of 16 marker loci cl ustered in eight chromosomal regions were significant associated with male anthesis date, 18 marker loci clustered in 11 regions were signif icantly associated with plant height, 14 marker loci clustered in nine regions were significantly associated with kernel weight, 16 marker l oci clustered in eight regions were associated with protein concentrat ion, 31 marker loci clustered in 11 regions were associated with oil c oncentration, and 28 marker loci clustered in 13 regions were associat ed with starch concentration. A number of QTL were detected in chromos omal regions where known gene loci biological relevance are located.