Inheritance of resistance to Aspergillus ear rot and aflatoxin production of corn from CI2

This study determined the types and magnitude of gene action, estimated heritabilities, and predicted gain from selection for resistance to Aspergillus ear rot and aflatoxin production in the cross of resistant corn inbred CI2 to susceptible inbred B73 in 1998 and 1999. The warm, dry summer of 1998 favored aflatoxin production, whereas the conditions of 1999 did not. Resistance to ear rot was mainly controlled by additive gene action. Aflatoxin values were analyzed by individual years (environments) because of the highly significant generation × environment interaction. Resistance to aflatoxin production was mainly controlled by epistasis in 1998 and by additive gene action in 1999. Heritabilities for ear rot and aflatoxin production were higher in the F₃ generation than in the BCP₁-selfed generation. In 1998, Spearman's correlation coefficients between Aspergillus ear rot ratings and aflatoxin values for the F₃ and the BCP₁-selfed families were not significant (P > 0.05). In 1999, both were highly significant (P < 0.01), but low at 0.41 and 0.17 for the F₃ and BCP₁-selfed generations, respectively. We found that CI2 is not an acceptable source of resistance due to lower heritabilities and disease resistance compared to other sources of resistance.