In maize (
Zea mays
L.) breeding programs, it is very
important to define a genetic distance of inbred lines and to
establish criteria and biometric methods for the satisfactory
germplasm classification. A total of 29 inbred lines from
Maize Research Institute “Zemun Polje” (MRIZP) breeding
program, Belgrade, Serbia, were used to compare similarities
obtained by morphological (according to UPOV - Union
Internationale pour la Protection des Obtentions Végétales)
and molecular (simple sequence repeats, SSR) markers.
The aim was to assess discriminative power of applied
markers in the separation of related lines, and to determine
the possibility of their application in choosing parental lines
for breeding programs. Application of different marker types
resulted in adequate separation of inbreds into divergent
groups, which facilitates the choice of parental lines.
However, there were still many inconsistencies between the
field and laboratory results. The quality of information from
morphological markers was improved by the application
of the appropriate descriptor, measurement scale and
the biometric method. According to the correspondence
analysis, increased number of SSR markers will enable
more reliable results. Regression analysis of morphological
visual assessment (MVG) and SSR similarity of individual
inbreds pointed out that in some cases morphological, and
in others molecular markers more accurately reflected
known pedigree information of tested maize lines. In the
early generations of maize inbred lines testing, we propose
utilization of information resulting from morphological
markers, according to UPOV descriptor. However,
application of adequate number of molecular (SSR) markers
has an economic justification on a smaller number of elite
lines in the later generations of line testing.
