Assessment of inducibility and spontaneous haploid genome doubling in maize (Zea mays L.)

Maize is a staple food, fuel, and feed crop grown around the world. Doubled haploid technology allows for the quick of development of inbred lines for hybrid development. The maternal in vivo doubled haploid system has gained rapid adoption by the maize breeding sector within the last 10 years. There have been significant improvements in the doubled haploid technology, which made it commercially viable. Within the doubled haploid system, there is limited genetic information about the two important traits that control the ability of generating doubled haploids, which are inducibility and spontaneous haploid genome doubling. Better understanding of these two traits could drastically improve the efficiencies and reduce labor needs for producing doubled haploid lines. In this dissertation, the genetic control of both inducibility and spontaneous haploid genome doubling were studied. A Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping study was conducted for both traits using an F2:3 population derived from inbred A427 and CR1Ht. Inducibility QTL were identified and the improvement of inducibility is examined. A major QTL was found for spontaneous haploid genome doubling and its application to doubled haploid breeding is discussed