Journal of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences ISSN:2233-8322(Print) 2508-870X(Online) 농업생명환경연구

The main procedures of maize breeding are inbred line development and hybrid selection. Inbred line development is an essential procedure for the creation of good hybrids, but in South Korea, inbred line development is completely dependent on conventional breeding methods. This conventional inbred line development system is a tedious and time-consuming procedure. Doubled haploid technology in maize is a rapid inbred line development method and many foreign maize research institutes are actively using this technology. In this study, we aimed to set up and utilize doubled haploid technology in our breeding program. Inducer lines, which can produce haploid seeds, are a prerequisite for doubled haploid breeding. The Maize Research Institute secured the right to use tropically adapted haploid inducer lines (TAILs). The number of days to silking for TAILs was 72 and the flowering time was appropriate for crossing with other populations. When 48 maize populations were crossed with the inducer, the average haploid induction rate was 6.0%. Haploid induction rate for 2014 through 2017 were 3.9, 4.8, 6.7, and 8.3%, respectively. When we compare the chromosome doubling stage, the inbred line production rate of seedlings was higher than that of germinated seeds. Agronomic characteristics of inbred lines developed by doubled haploid technology were tested and those lines will be good resources as parent plants for making hybrids. Future work will aim to increase induction rate and the selection efficiency of haploid seeds, but our breeding efficiency and capacity in South Korea will be greatly improved by this technology.