| Twenty seven cycles of divergent mass selection for ear length were completed in the Iowa Long Ear Synthetic (BSLE) cultivar. The original population, each third cycle of selection for increased and decreased ear length, their respective S1 lines, and their respective crosses were used to estimate direct and correlated responses to selection and the effect of selection on inbreeding depression and heterosis. This experiment was conducted in 1995 and 1996 at five locations of Iowa. 300 unselected S1 lines were obtained from the original population and from the cycles of selection of both short- and long-ear subpopulations to determine the effect of selection on the genetic variability for ear length and correlated traits. This experiment was conducted in 1995 and 1996 at two locations of Iowa. Divergent mass selection was highly effective to modify ear length. After twenty seven cycles of selection, ear length was increased 1.4% (b... |
