ESTIMATION OF GENETIC EFFECTS ON PLANT HEIGHT IN TWO SPECIFIC PAIRS OF INBRED LINES AND ITS SIX BASIC GENERATIONS

Estimation of genetic effects on economically important traits is a common procedure in the most breeding programmes at Agricultural Institute Osijek. This paper deals with estimation of adequacy over additive/dominance model of inheritance as well as estimation and comparison of genetic effects on plant height for two specific pairs of inbreds (A672×Va99; A672×Os6-2), and its six basic generations (P2, F1, F2, BCP1 and BCP2). Two year investigation was carried out at two locations in eastern Croatia. The trails consisted of 121 entries of different inbreeding level derived by partial diallel mating design followed by selfing and back crossing. Simple lattice experimental design was used in both investigated years. Goodness of fit test results indicated the additive/dominance model failed to explain all differences among generation means. Digenic epistatic model appeared to be adequate in both investigated pairs of inbreds at least in one of the investigated years. Estimations and comparisons of genetic effects for selected pairs of inbreds and basic generations revealed prevailing dominance effects when compared to additive

IMPORTANCE OF CHOOSING TESTERS FOR STABILITY ESTIMATION IN MAIZE HYBRIDS

Stability and adaptability estimation of the investigated trait(s) is a common procedure in most of maize breeding programmes. It is usually applied to F1 progeny but not to inbreds. This paper deals with stability and adaptability estimation of grain yield for lines and testers within its F1 hybrids. For lines and testers, general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities for grain yield were also estimated. The experiments consisted of twenty-one experimental maize hybrids obtained by line×tester mating design. Two year investigation was performed in random block design in four replications at sixteen environments. Estimated means and parameters describing stability and adaptability - regression coefficient (bi), deviations mean square (sdi) and ecovalence (Wi) detected Os84-28 line and Os84-28 tester, both as most yielded and widest adapted inbreds. Combining ability estimation showed highly significant effects of lines, testers and their respective interactions with environment for grain yield. Os84-28×Os3-48 combination had on average the highest grain yield but was not the most stable and the widest adapted genotype. It suggests that there is no strong relationship between level and stability of grain yield for parental lines and its F1 progeny

ConservePlants : an integrated approach to conservation of threatened plants for the 21st century

Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitness and distribution causing rapid species declines, sometimes even before they had been discovered. Despite the high goals set by conservationists to protect native plants from further degradation and extinction, the initiatives for the conservation of threatened species in Europe are scattered and have not yielded the desired results. The main aim of this Action is to improve plant conservation in Europe through the establishment of a network of scientists and other stakeholders who deal with different aspects of plant conservation, from plant taxonomy, ecology, conservation genetics, conservation physiology and reproductive biology to protected area's managers, not forgetting social scientists, who are crucial when dealing with the general public.peer-reviewe