Generation mean analysis of some physiological traits in the hybrid maize cv. SC704 under different water regimes

This research was carried out using seven generations of MO17 (the paternal line), B73 (the maternal line), F1 (SC704), F2, F3, BC1 and BC2 to study the inheritance of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and relative water content using generation mean analysis. The experiment was conducted in the research station of the University of Tabriz, Iran, with two replications for each generation under normal irrigation and two water deficit conditions. The existence of epistatic gene interaction was observed in controlling of F0, Fm, FV (in the severe stress condition), FV/Fm (in the normal condition), FV/F0 (in the normal and severe stress conditions) and RWC (in the normal and moderate and severe stress conditions). Duplicate epistasis was observed for all studied traits under the normal and water deficit conditions except RWC in the severe stress condition. Therefore, exploiting non-additive gene action and delaying the selection to advanced generations for physiological traits in maize was suggested to adopt in the programs aimed at developing drought-tolerant lines and hybrids.