QTL detection for grain oil and starch content and their associations in two connected F2:3 populations in high-oil maize

Abstract

High-oil maize (Zea mays L.) has special value in animal feed and human food. Two hundred and eight-four and 265 F2:3 families developed from two crosses between one high-oil maize inbred and two normal dent maize inbreds were evaluated for grain oil and starch contents under two environments. Using composite interval mapping, 1–6 QTL for each trait were detected under each environment and in combined analysis in both populations. Only one common QTL across two environments in each population and across two populations were found for starch content. Among the detected QTL, nine digenic interactions with small effects were identified. Comparison of single-trait QTL and the results of multiple-trait QTL mapping showed that oil content might be complicatedly correlated with starch content. Although single-trait QTL with the same parental effects for both traits and oil-starch QTL were all detected at the same genetic bin 6.04 as the cloned high-oil QTL (qHO6) with no unfavorable effects on grain weight, our results did reflect the difficulty to realize simultaneous improvement on grain oil and starch contents. Of course, these results should be validated in further experiments under more environments using RILs, NILs and other permanent populations.