African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6915

Article in Press

Generation and characterization of doubled haploids maize (Zea mays L.) in sub-Saharan Africa

Abdalla Dao, Flavien Houlboumi, Kady Y. Siri, Tégawendé O. Bonkoungou, Jacob Sanou, Ursula Frei

  •  Received: 29 August 2024
  •  Accepted: 16 December 2024
The use of doubled haploid (DH) technology in maize breeding programs in Sub-Saharan Africa is uncommon. Adoption of this technology may improve the turnover of maize varieties. This research was conducted at Farako-Bâ research station of the Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research (INERA) in Burkina Faso. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of source germplasm, inducers and seasons on haploid induction rate (HIR), to estimate misclassified rate of haploid seeds and chromosome doubling rate. Two inducer lines from CIMMYT and 6 OPVs and 4 hybrids from INERA were used. The inducer and donor crossing were performed during the off-season 2018/2019 and rainy season 2019. Results showed no significant genotypic differences among inducers and source germplasm for HIR while significant differences were observed between OPVs and hybrids, and between seasons. Misclassification rate of diploids as haploids for the 6 OPVs ranged from 12% to 91% indicating the poor expression of the identification marker with some source germplasm. The average chromosome doubling rate was 50 %. This study demonstrates that national agricultural research institutes in SSA can integrate doubled haploid technology in their maize breeding programs.

Keywords: Doubled haploid; in vivo induction; maize; sub-Saharan Africa