MARKER ASISSTED BACKCROSSING FOR INCORPORATION OF THE OPAQUE2 GENE INTO A STANDARD

Quality protein maize (QPM) is the maize with increased levels of two essential amino acids, hard endosperm and good agronomic performances. The recessive opaque2 (o2) mutation increases lysine and tryptophan content in maize grains. It has recently become possible to use marker assisted selection (MAS) to accelerate selection for the o2 allele in QPM breeding process. Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje has a program on developing QPM genotypes for growing in temperate regions. The results presented herein are the part of marker assisted backcross breeding program for incorporation of the o2 into maize inbred line. Marker selected o2 recessive homozygous BC2F2 individuals were subjected to the whole genome background selection, which identified five progenies with 83 to 94 % recurrent parent genome content. BC2F3 families are being evaluated for desirable agronomic and biochemical traits in replicated trials and the best lines will represent the QPM version of the standard line. Key words: maize, marker assisted selection (MAS), opaque2 (o2), quality protein maize (QPM) 1