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The Effect Of Inbreeding Diallel Crosses Of Inbred Lines Of Corn Selected For High And Low Combining Ability, Melvin Dale Rumbaugh

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The present day hybrid seed corn industry is based upon the development and utilization of inbred lines in hybrid combination. Current breeding procedures are largely predicated on the assumption that the actions of complementary, dominant or partially dominant favorable genes are responsible for the heterosis observed in the hybrids produced. If heterosis were due in considerable part to nonallelic interactions or to overdominance, the present breeding procedures might be expected to yield superior hybrids but would not be highly efficient.

Since the proposal of complementary growth factors as a genetic explanation of heterosis and the alternative proposal of physiological stimulation …