QTL Identification for Plant Height and Ear Height Based on SNP Mapping in Maize (Zea mays L.)

In order to learn more about the genetic machanism of plant height and ear height, two linkage maps were constructed by SNP markers using two F2:3 families derived from K22 × CI7 and K22 × Dan340, respectively. These two maps included 429 and 344 polymorphic SNP markers respectively and their total lengths were 1 389.3 cM and 1 567.5 cM respectively. The phenotypic data of plant height (PH) and ear height (EH) of two populations were used to detect QTLs in two environments (2010 in Nanning of Guangxi Province and 2011 in Wuhan of Hubei Province) by using the Composite Interval Mapping (CIM) model of WinQTLCart2.5. In total, 21 QTLs for plant height and 27 QTLs for ear height were identified. The phenotypic variance explained by each QTL ranged from 4.9% to 17.9%. The results showed that the additive and partial dominant effects were the main genetic basis for plant height and ear height in maize in this study, and the main QTLs for PH and EH were both found on chromosome 7.