Time- and resource-efficient identification of promising lines is of utmost importance in hybrid breeding. Here, we present a novel approach to evaluate female candidate lines for single-cross hybrids, which saves four to five generations by obtaining general (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effect estimates prior to the introgression of the female lines into a male sterility-inducing cytoplasm. The approach is based on three-way crosses and we exemplarily demonstrate its power by predicting 57 single-cross hybrids of triticale. Prediction accuracies based on GCA or GCA and SCA effects estimated in three-way hybrids were generally superior to those based on mid-parent values. Notably, a high proportion of SCA variance had only little influence on the prediction accuracies based on three-way hybrids. Simulation studies support the empirical findings and illustrate approaches for further optimization. Thus, the presented approach appears highly valuable and has the potential to increase selection gain in hybrid breeding.

中文翻译：

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基于 CMS 的杂交育种中新雌性候选品系的快速评估

有希望的品系的时间和资源高效识别在杂交育种中至关重要。在这里，我们提出了一种评估单交杂种雌性候选品系的新方法，通过在雌性品系渗入雄性之前获得一般 (GCA) 和特定配合力 (SCA) 效应估计，可以节省四到五代不育诱导细胞质。该方法基于三向杂交，我们通过预测 57 个小黑麦的单杂交杂种来示范性地证明了它的能力。在三元杂种中基于 GCA 或 GCA 和 SCA 效应估计的预测精度通常优于基于中间亲本值的预测精度。值得注意的是，高比例的 SCA 方差对基于三向混合的预测精度几乎没有影响。模拟研究支持实证结果并说明进一步优化的方法。因此，所提出的方法看起来非常有价值，并且有可能增加杂交育种中的选择增益。