Improvement of Yield and Ear Number Resulting from Selection at Allozyme Loci in a Maize Population1

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Abstract
Previous studies have shown that alleles at enzyme (allozyme) loci in maize were responsive to directional selection and were associated with changes in grain yield. The purpose of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that manipulation of frequencies of these allozyme alleles in a population of maize would produce responses in correlated quantitative traits. Frequencies of alleles at seven allozyme loci were manipulated in an unselected maize cultivar, ‘Jarvis Golden Prolific’, to generate a population with allelic frequencies virtually identical to those found in the cultivar after 10 cycles of recurrent full‐sib family selection for improvement of grain yield. Field evaluations of this population indicated that selection based solely on the seven allozyme loci produced improvement in grain yield equivalent to one and one‐half to two cycles of full‐sib family selection for yield alone. Selection at the allozyme loci also significantly increased ear number. Possible techniques for the use of allozymes in corn improvement programs were presented.