Breeding for resistance to Fusarium ear rot (FER; Fusarium verticillioides Nirenberg) and fumonisin (FUM) contamination in maize (Zea mays L.) is labor intensive, time consuming, and expensive. The objective of this study is to explore three possible shortcuts to improve the efficiency of breeding for resistance to FER and FUM: relying on natural instead of artificial inoculation of Fusarium verticillioides, selecting inbred lines per se instead of topcross hybrids, and using grain test weight (TW) as an indirect selection criterion. We selected the 27 most resistant and 26 most susceptible S_0:1 lines from the third cycle of a broad-based recurrent selection population and topcrossed them to a common inbred line. The resulting topcross hybrids were evaluated in three North Carolina environments under artificial and natural inoculation of F. verticillioides. The entry-mean heritabilities for FER and FUM are considerably reduced under natural conditions compared to artificial inoculation; therefore, artificial inoculation should be practiced for efficient selection for resistance. We found a high correlation between FER and FUM content of S_0:1 lines per se and their topcross hybrids, suggesting that selection among early generation inbred lines per se is an efficient method to improve resistance in their topcross hybrids. The TW of inoculated S_0:1 lines per se was strongly and negatively correlated with FER and FUM of their topcross hybrids, suggesting that TW can be utilized as an indirect selection criterion to improve resistance to FER and FUM contamination.

中文翻译：

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人工接种对玉米抗镰刀菌穗腐病和伏马菌素污染性状相关性的影响

在玉米 ( Zea mays L.) 中培育抗镰刀菌穗腐病 (FER; Fusarium v​​erticillioides Nirenberg) 和伏马菌素 (FUM) 污染是一项劳动密集型、耗时且昂贵的工作。本研究的目的是探索提高 FER 和 FUM 抗性育种效率的三种可能捷径：依靠自然而不是人工接种轮枝镰刀菌、选择自交系本身而不是顶级杂交杂种、以及使用谷物测试重量(TW) 作为间接选择标准。我们选择了 27 个最抗性和 26 个最易感的 S _0:1来自广泛的循环选择种群的第三个循环的品系，并将它们与一个共同的近交系进行顶交。在北卡罗来纳州的三个环境中，在人工和自然接种轮枝菌的条件下评估了所得的杂交杂交种。与人工接种相比，自然条件下 FER 和 FUM 的平均遗传力显着降低；因此，应进行人工接种以有效选择抗性。我们发现 S _0:1品系本身与其顶交杂种的FER 和 FUM 含量之间存在高度相关性，这表明在早代自交系本身中进行选择是提高其顶交杂种抗性的有效方法。接种 S _0:1的 TW 品系本身与其顶交杂种的 FER 和 FUM 呈强烈负相关，表明 TW 可用作间接选择标准，以提高对 FER 和 FUM 污染的抗性。