CORNFED: Integration of advanced mapping and phenotyping methods to identify key alleles for building European maize ideotypes

Maize has proven to be the most efficient crop to produce high energy feed for animals through whole plant biomass harvested for silage conservation. It also has been acknowledged for its potential as a provider of biomass for energy production. A further improvement of whole plant biomass production for both applications requires the identification of key alleles to optimize light interception and conversion into biomass, in particular through cold tolerance for early sowing, rapid leaf growth, and then conversion into biomass. Key alleles need to be identified to monitor flowering time and plant maturity according to environmental factors and end product use.

The project is built so as to provide directly applicable results in terms of alleles discovered at several key loci defining the desired ideotype, along with markers allowing a predictive interference within the main genetic groups considered for breeding and possibly at the species-wide level. It will also settle a unique basis of knowledge regarding the variation of the traits of interest and provide protocols to evaluate these using advanced technologies. Also insight will be gained in the magnitude and organisation of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between and within genetic groups and its consequences for LD mapping.