Genetic analysis of the related traits of flowering and silk for hybrid seed production in maize

In the field, asynchrony of flowering and silk for male and female plants always occurs under different abiotic stresses, and reduces yield in the seed industry. Under stress conditions, a female parent with a short duration of silk emergence and a long time of silk receptivity can decrease the risk of the asynchrony for flowering and silking in the process of hybrid seed production. For dissecting the genetic basis of the related traits of flowering and silk in maize, a set of recombinant inbred lines (RIL) was evaluated at three different environments. Correlation analysis showed that anthesis silk interval (ASI) had a significant positive relationship with day to silk (DTS) and duration of silk emergence (DSE). Silk receptivity (SR) had a significant negative correlation to DTS, DSE, and ASI. This implied that the female parent with a long DTS, DSE, and ASI could easy lose its SR, and required synchrony of pollen shedding for the male parent in the field. A total of sixteen different QTLs were identified for the seven traits of flowering and silking traits, including three QTLs for day to tassel (DTT), two for day to pollen (DTP), two for duration of pollen shedding (DPS), three for SR, two for DTS, two for DSE, and two for ASI. The QTLs detected for the related traits of flowering and silk could select ideal traits for male and female parents to raise the yield in the seed industry under certain stress conditions.