Genetic control of kernel compositional variation in a maize diversity panel.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Genetics
• Plant Breeding

Background:

• Maize (Zea mays L.) yield improvements have often reduced grain quality.
• Genetic control of maize grain composition and trait interactions remain largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate genetic factors influencing maize grain compositional traits.
• To understand trait correlations and trade-offs in diverse maize types.

Main Methods:

• Evaluated 501 maize inbred lines across five environments.
• Predicted 16 compositional traits using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy.
• Utilized whole-genome resequencing and 2,386,666 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for genome-wide association study (GWAS).

Main Results:

• Substantial phenotypic variation for compositional traits, influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
• Significant correlations and trade-offs detected among traits in different maize types.
• Identified 72 significant SNPs associated with 11 compositional traits, explaining 22.9-71.0% of phenotypic variation.

Conclusions:

• Genetic and environmental factors significantly impact maize grain composition.
• GWAS identified key genetic loci for improving maize grain quality traits.
• Findings provide insights for developing improved maize varieties in breeding programs.