Use of recurrent reciprocal selection in breeding sweetcorn.

摘要

A model of half-sib recurrent reciprocal selection with elements of full-sib selection in intervarietal crosses was tested in the foothills zone of the northern Caucasus during 1991-96. The crosses were made in populations A and B. The best testcrosses from 2 reciprocal populations with the paternal components 16A, 60A, 82A, 89A and 166A and 65B, 87B, 163B, 212B and 256B were selected. Most of the testcrosses with the highest mean yield over the years of study also had the best flavour, ecologicaladaptability and stability, and ear length and diameter. The sublines which were the paternal components of the selected half-sib testcrosses were used in various breeding programmes to produce stable parental forms and obtain hybrids of different types.The best testcrosses outyielded the standard by an average 4.28 t/ha (37.5%).