Studies On The Genetic Variation Of Maize (Zea Mays) Mutants

Chemical mutation was an effective way of creating new germplasm resources. The key of chemical mutation breeding was to induce the genetic variation and select elite mutants. In this paper, chemical mutants and a part of their hybrids were selected as materials. We analyzed the genetic variation among these materials based on the agronomic and quality characters and SSR markers, the correlation among the traits of mutants and the heterosis in quality traits. The results were as follows:1. Widespread variation of agronomic and quality traits was detected in chemically-induced progeny. There existed much variation for mutants No.3, No.8 and No.10 in many characters. The result indicated that chemical mutation could cause variation efficiently in the inbred lines of maize (Zea Mays) and created mutants having different agronomic and quality trait. Therefore the chemical mutation was an effective way of creating new germplasm resources.2. 52 SSR primers selected from 97 primers gave stable profiles amplified in sample of 48 mutants, and produced 170 polymorphic amplified fragments. The average number of allele per SSR locus was 3.27 with a range from 2 to 6. The polymorphism information content for the SSR loci varied from 0.039 to 0.715 with an average of 0.327. Genetic similarities among the 49 materials ranged from 0.377 to 1.000 with an average of 0.823. The result of SSR cluster analysis showed distinct variation among the mutants, which was consistent with agronomic and quality characters analysis. It indicated that SSR markers could be used for analyzing genetic variation of mutants.3. The crosses with mutant male parents had heterosis from mid-parent value. A part of them,...