Selection for germ size related to the oil content of the corn grain (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

To get corn with higher yielding and oil content, the population ESALQ-VD-2 was submited to a breeding program where the selection among half sib families were carried out mainly for yielding and within families, a mass selection was applied in order to increase the germ size, since the oil content is highly correlated with the germ enlargement. The present work had been done with the intention to evaluate the breeding procedure used, by measuring the progress in the oil content of the grain after five cycles of selection. To avoid any pollen effect seeds of S1 ears were used and comparisons were done between two populations, the Original and the High Oil. The Original population was obtained through a selection among and within families only for productivity. The High Oil population besides the selection among families for productivity, had a mass selection applied to increase the germ size. The breeding response under the selection scheme led to an increasing progress in the oil content of the High Oil population and a 1.44% of oil per cycle was detected.