Assessment of genetic purity of Iranian commercial maize hybrid seeds using DUS characteristics and microsatellite markers

Genetic purity is one of the most important qualitative criteria for success in hybrid seeds production. In order to avoid reduction in yield caused by using presence of seeds resulting from self-pollinating and unwanted crossing or seed mixing, development of a simple, rapid, and accurate method for genetic purity assessment is of great importance. Accordingly, the genetic purity of 6 important Iranian commercial maize hybrid cultivars (KSC703, KSC704, KSC705, KSC706, Karun and Mobin) was evaluated by GOT and molecular markers. The results of GOT showed that the lowest and highest genetic purity belonged to Mobin (67.9%) and KSC704 (92.9%) hybrids, respectively. Out of the 11 SSR markers, 6 primers were selected since they have produced clear, scorable and unambiguous polymorphic bands among the parents, so that they could identify all hybrids from self-pollinated seeds and off-types. Due to the high correlation between GOT and molecular marker results, Hence, it is proposed that these SSR markers can be used in efficient analysis of hybrid seed purity since this technique is simple to use, more accurate and not affected by environment when compared with GOT.