Maize is one of the most important food and feed crops in the world including Southeast Asia. In spite of numberous efforts with conventional breeding, the maize productions remain low and the loss of yields by drought and downy mildew are still severe in Asia. Genetic improvement of maize has been performed with molecular marker and genetic engineering. Because maize is one of the most widely studied crop for its own genome and has tremendous diversity and variant, maize is considered as a forefront crop in development and estimation of molecular markers for agricultural useful trait in genetics and breeding. Using QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) and MAS (Marker Assisted Breeding), molecular breeders are able to accelerate the development of drought tolerance or downy mildew resistance maize genotype. The present paper overviews QTL/MAS approaches towards improvement of maize production against drought and downy mildew. We also discuss here the trends and importance of molecular marker and mapping population in maize breeding.

In U.S.A. maize breeding, exotic germplasm is considered as high-risk and usually introduced by backcrossing specific traits into elite lines. The U.S.A. maize germplasm base is narrow. Only a few open-pollinated varieties are well represented in current programs. Currently, the barrier in using of exotic germplasm in the U.S.A is less formidable than in the 1980s. The major reason is that U.S.A materials are now used in tropical breeding to accelerate earlier maturity and lodging resistance. These exotic materials, developed with U.S.A germplasm, are being introduced back into the U.S.A.Since1994, the ARS-led Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project has sought to help broaden the genetic base of America’s corn crop by promising exotic germplasm and crossing it with domestic lines. New hybrids derived from such crosses have provided corn researchers and the producers. These may include improved or alternative native source of resistance to insect pests such as corn rootworms and diseases like northern leaf blight. GEM’s aim is to provide source of useful genetic maize diversity to help the producers to reduce risks from new or evolving insect and disease threats or changes in the environment or respond to new marketing opportunities and demand. During the 2009 growing season, the Ames (Iowa) and Raleigh (North Carolina) locations managed or coordinated evaluations on 17,200 nursery plots as well as 14,000 yield trial plots in Ames and 12,000 in Raleigh. A new “allelicdiversity” study is devoted to exploring and capturing the genetic variation represented by over 300 exotic corn races. Since 2001, GEM has released 221 new corn lines to cooperators for further development into elite commercial new hybrids. GEM has already identified about 50%-tropical, 50%-temperate families tracing primarily to tropical hybrids that are competitive with commercial checks. In North Carolina State University program, they have examined the potential of tropical inbredand hybrids for U.S.A. breeding by crossing temperate-adapted, 100%-tropical lines to U.S.A hybrids. There should be favorably unique alleles or genomic regions in temperate germplasm that can be helpful in tropical maize improvement as well as utilization of tropical lines in temperate areas.

Is backcrossing a good strategy for improving elite lines for quantitative traits in general? Results reported here demonstrate the effectiveness of a backcrossing program for improving quantitatively inherited disease resistance traits, which are strongly influenced by the environment. Through backcross breeding, we were able to improve an important commercial inbred line, FR1064, for ear rot and fumonisin contamination resistance without significantly lowering its yield potential, even with the use of a donor line with poor agronomic potential. Following one generation of selection on advanced backcross-derived lines, gains were observed for the primary trait of interest in advanced inbred generations. Following two generations of selection, we improved potential performance for ear rot resistance and reduced fumonisin accumulation in the 19 selected lines without significantly affecting important agronomic characteristics such as plant height, ear height, or flowering time compared to the recurrent parent, FR1064. The 19 selected lines were also significantly more resistant to ear rot under inoculated conditions than the FR1064 topcross without exhibiting significant reductions in topcross grain yield or other agronomic traits. Several individual lines were identified that were not statistically different from GE440 for ear rot or fumonisin content as inbreds or from the GE440 topcross for ear rot. These lines exhibited topcross yields comparable to the FR1064 topcross, although they were not competitive with commercial check yields. Thus, from a practical standpoint, the backcrossing method was effective at improving quantitative disease resistance in an elite commercial line using an unadapted donor parent. We also genotyped selected lines at DNA markers linked to ear rot and fumonisin resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified in the BC1 generation of this cross to determine which QTL demonstrated allele frequency shifts due to selection.

Use of public tropical lines for U.S. commercial maize (Zea mays L.) breeding is either undocumented or non-existent. A possible exception is the old Cuban line A6, which was still being used in tropical hybrids over 40 years after its development. A major reason for the under-utilization of this valuable germplasm source is the sparse amount of yield-trial data available for most tropical lines. Effective evaluation of tropical, unadapted maize is costly and time-consuming in the U.S. corn-belt, where most temperate maize breeding is done. Thus, temperate maize breeding programs have shown minimal interest in such lines. The narrowness of the temperate maize (Zea mays L.) germplasm base has long been recognized, and there are many available, elite tropical lines that might be used to profitably broaden it. However, there are few comparative yield-trial data by which to choose which line(s) might be most useful. As the investment required for using a tropical line in a temperate breeding program is large, line-choice is critical. Tropical maize (Zea mays L.) represents a valuable genetic resource containing unique alleles not present in elite temperate maize. The strong delay in flowering in response to long daylength photoperiods exhibited by most tropical maize hinders its incorporation into temperate maize breeding programs. The objective of this study was to integrate candidate gene analyses with photoperiod QTL mapping across multiple maize populations. We tested the hypothesis that diverse tropical inbreds carry alleles with similar effects at four key photoperiod response quantitative trait loci (QTL) previously identified in maize. Four tropical maize inbreds were each crossed and backcrossed twice to the temperate recurrent parent B73 to establish four sets of introgression lines. Evaluation of these lines under long day lengths demonstrated that all four QTL have significant effects on flowering time or height in these lines, but the functional allelic effects varied substantially across the tropical donor lines. At the most important photoperiod response QTL on chromosome 10, one tropical line allele even promoted earlier flowering relative to the B73 allele. Significant allelic effect differences among tropical founders were also demonstrated directly in an F2 population derived from the cross of Ki14 and CML254. The chromosome 10 photoperiod response QTL position was validated in a set of heterogeneous inbred families evaluated in field tests and in controlled environments.

Is backcrossing a good strategy for improving elite lines for quantitative traits in general? Results reported here demonstrate the effectiveness of a backcrossing program for improving quantitatively inherited disease resistance traits, which are strongly influenced by the environment. Through backcross breeding, we were able to improve an important commercial inbred line, FR1064, for ear rot and fumonisin contamination resistance without significantly lowering its yield potential, even with the use of a donor line with poor agronomic potential. Following one generation of selection on advanced backcross-derived lines, gains were observed for the primary trait of interest in advanced inbred generations. Following two generations of selection, we improved potential performance for ear rot resistance and reduced fumonisin accumulation in the 19 selected lines without significantly affecting important agronomic characteristics such as plant height, ear height, or flowering time compared to the recurrent parent, FR1064. The 19 selected lines were also significantly more resistant to ear rot under inoculated conditions than the FR1064 topcross without exhibiting significant reductions in topcross grain yield or other agronomic traits. Several individual lines were identified that were not statistically different from GE440 for ear rot or fumonisin content as inbreds or from the GE440 topcross for ear rot. These lines exhibited topcross yields comparable to the FR1064 topcross, although they were not competitive with commercial check yields. Thus, from a practical standpoint, the backcrossing method was effective at improving quantitative disease resistance in an elite commercial line using an unadapted donor parent. We also genotyped selected lines at DNA markers linked to ear rot and fumonisin resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL) identified in the BC1 generation of this cross to determine which QTL demonstrated allele frequency shifts due to selection.

Downy mildew (DM) caused by the Peronosclerospora maydis is considered the most damaging disease of maize (Zea mays L.) in South Asia. In East-Timor, it has been widely spread and considered as the major stress of maize production. It was observed at Loes Research Station and farmers’ field since 2004. All materials exhibited high susceptibility to DM infection at the CIMMYT trial. Only Suwan5 (Thailand), LYDMR (CIMMYT) and Arjuna (Indonesia) showed tolerance. Different trials with 900 crosses were tested at 5 locations; Lospalos, Dili, Comoro, Aileu and Loes in 2006/2007 In 2008, high DM infection was observed at Loes. Crosses of Suwan5, NAI, Arjuna and DMR-ESR-Y (IITA)with tropical and temperate germplasm showed tolerance. The International Corn Foundation (ICF)/KNU team with the Ministry of Agriculture have run breeding research three cycles yearly. By 2007, the joint team developed an open-pollinated variety (OPV) with combined tolerance to DM and drought. The Ministry named it "NAI", means "honorable" in national language. Hybrid breeding for both DM and drought are being developed.

In nature, plant diseases, insects and parasites (hereafter called as "pest") must be co-survived. The most common expression of co-survival of a host crop to the pest can be tolerance. With tolerance, chemical uses can be minimized and it protects environment and sustains host productivity and the minimum pest survival. Tolerance can be applicable in all living organisms including crop plants, lifestocks and even human beings. Tolerant system controls pest about 90 to 95% (this pest control system often be called as horizontal or partial resistance), while the use of chemicals or selection of high resistance controls pest 100% (the most expression of this control system is vertical resistance or true resistance). Controlling or eliminating the pests by either chemicals or vertical resistance create new problems in nature and destroy the co-survial balance of pest and host. Controlling pests through tolerance can only permit co-survive of pests and hosts. Tolerance is durable and environmentally-friend. Crop cultivars based on tolerance system are different from those developed by genetically modified organism (GMO) system. The former stabilizes genetic balance of a pest and a host crop in nature while the latter destabilizes the genetic balance due to 100% control. For three decades, the author has implemented the tolerance system in breeding maize cultivars against various pests in both tropical and temperate environments. Parasitic weed Striga species known as the greatest biological problem in agriculture has even been controlled through this system. The final effect of the tolerance can be an integrated genetic pest management (IGPM) without any chemical uses and it makes co-survival of pests in nature.in nature.

1. 단백질: 오페이크-2 옥수수에서 비록 적은 단백질함량이 분석되었지만 정상적인 옥수수와 오페이크-2 옥수수 사이에 있어서 유의적인 상관관계는 없었다. 2. 라이신: 라이신 함량역시 품종에 따라 다르며 오페이크-2 옥수수에 있어서의 라이신 함량은 품종간에 큰 차이가 없었다. 정상적인 옥수수와 오페이크-2 옥수수 사이에 있어서 라이신 함량간에는 유의적인 상관관계가 없었다. 3. 분리비율: 오페이크-2 옥수수는 열성단일 인자로서 대개 나타났다. 표현형에 있어서는 사용한 품종에 따라 다르게 나타났다. 오페이크-2 옥수수는 이병성이 약한 듯 하였으며 종실중이 가벼웠다. 4. 오페이크-2 인자와 후라워리-2 인자는 대립유전인자가 아니다. 5. 배우자적 불화합성과 웅성 불임이 오페이크 교배 조합에서 나타났다.