Genetic analysis of seed oil content in silage maize

Silage maize (Zea mays) with high oil content is an important roughage for ruminants, and it is of great significance to conduct genetic research on oil content traits. A population of 304 doubled haploid (DH) lines derived from the parental lines BY4944 and DNF34-2 (P < 0.01) were used as research subjects, and a comprehensive genetic analysis of descriptive statistics, heritability calculation, minimum gene log estimation, genetic model prediction, and trait-regulated interaction between genes was conducted. The results showed that The oil content traits of silage maize seeds showed a standard normal distribution, with a coefficient of variation of 18.25%, heritability of 86.68%, minimum gene log of 8.43, and no interaction between regulatory genes, which were controlled by four pairs of the main genes with positive additive effects. This shows that oil content traits have high genetic diversity, rapid variation, and great potential for improvement, and thus can be used as an important indicator for variety improvement. The results of this study provide a reference for the identification and genetic breeding of silage maize germplasm and lay a foundation for future gene mining for oil content regulation in silage maize seeds.