Existem poucas informações sobre o uso de intercruzamentos em populações de soja derivadas de retrocruzamento. Os objetivos deste trabalho compreendem a avaliação dos efeitos de uma geração de intercruzamentos nas médias, distribuição de frequências, variâncias genéticas e respostas à seleção em uma população de retrocruzamento de soja. A população básica foi derivada de um cruzamento simples entre duas linhagens contrastantes para a produção de grãos, seguido de um retrocruzamento para a linhagem mais produtiva. Cento e dezessete progênies derivadas da população não intercruzada (progênies RC1F2) e cento e dezoito progênies derivadas da população intercruzada (progênies RC1#F2) foram avaliadas no ano agrícola de 2008/09 na Estação Experimental de Anhumas, do Departamento de Genética da ESALQ/USP, em Piracicaba, SP, em dois experimentos em látice quadruplo 11x11 (quatro repetições). As parcelas foram constituídas de linhas de 2 m, espaçadas de 0,5 m, contendo 30 plantas após o desbaste. Estas foram colhidas em bulk (que correspondem às gerações RC1F3 e RC1#F3) e avaliadas novamente no ano agrícola 2010/11, utilizando o mesmo delineamento experimental, tipo de parcela e local. Foram avaliados os seguintes caracteres: número de dias para florescimento (DF), altura da planta no florescimento (AF), número de dias para maturação (DM), altura da planta na maturação (AM) e produção de grãos (PG). Para os dois tipos de populações, RC1 e RC1#, foram estimados os seguintes parâmetros: média geral, amplitude de variação, distribuição das frequências, variância genética entre progênies (σ2p), variância aditiva (σ2A), variância fenotípica entre médias de progênies (σ2F), e resposta esperada com seleção (Rs). As médias foram similares para a maioria dos caracteres entre as populações RC1 e RC1# dentro de cada ano. Entretanto, houve um acréscimo das variâncias genéticas na população intercruzada para a maioria dos caracteres, o que era esperado com base em um modelo de um loco com dois alelos. Consequentemente, a resposta esperada com seleção para PG foi 39% maior, em média, para as populações intercruzadas (RC1#F2 e RC1#F3). Estes resultados indicam que uma geração de intercruzamento após o retrocruzamento é importante em programas de melhoramento genético de soja. / There is limited information on using random mating after backcrossing in soybeans. This work was carried out to evaluate the effects of one generation of random mating after backcrossing on the means, frequency distributions, genetic variances and responses to selection in a soybean population. The basic population was derived from a two-way cross between two inbred lines contrasting for grain yield and backcrossed to the higher yielding one. One hundred and seventeen progenies derived from a not random-mated backcross population (RC1F2 progenies) and one hundred and eighteen progenies derived from a random-mated backcross population (RC1#F2 progenies) were evaluated in the 2008/09 growing season at Anhumas Experimental Station, of the Department of Genetics, ESALQ/USP, located in Piracicaba, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Evaluation trials were carried out using an 11x11 quadruple lattice design (four replications). Plots consisted of 2 m rows spaced by 0.5 m, with 30 plants after thinning. The entries were harvested in bulks (which correspond to RC1F3 and RC1#F3 progenies) and evaluated again in the 2010/11 growing season, using the same experimental design, plot size and location. The following traits were recorded: number of days to flowering (DF), plant height at flowering (AF), number of days to maturity (DM), plant height at maturity (AM), and grain yield (PG). The following parameters were estimated for both RC1 and RC1#: general mean, amplitude of variation, frequency distribution, genetic variance among progenies (σ2p), additive variance (σ2A), phenotypic variance on a progeny mean basis (σ2F), and expected response to selection (Rs). For most traits general means were similar for RC1 and RC1# populations within years. However, genetic variances increased after one generation of random mating, for most traits, which was expected based on a one-locus two-alleles model. Thus, expected response to selection on a progeny mean basis for grain yield (PG) was 39% higher, on average, for the random-mated populations (RC1#F2 and RC1#F3). Overall, the results indicate that one generation of random mating before selfing in backcross population is useful in soybean breeding programs.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Existem poucas informações sobre o uso de intercruzamentos em populações de soja derivadas de retrocruzamento. Os objetivos deste trabalho compreendem a avaliação dos efeitos de uma geração de intercruzamentos nas médias, distribuição de frequências, variâncias genéticas e respostas à seleção em uma população de retrocruzamento de soja. A população básica foi derivada de um cruzamento simples entre duas linhagens contrastantes para a produção de grãos, seguido de um retrocruzamento para a linhagem mais produtiva. Cento e dezessete progênies derivadas da população não intercruzada (progênies RC1F2) e cento e dezoito progênies derivadas da população intercruzada (progênies RC1#F2) foram avaliadas no ano agrícola de 2008/09 na Estação Experimental de Anhumas, do Departamento de Genética da ESALQ/USP, em Piracicaba, SP, em dois experimentos em látice quadruplo 11x11 (quatro repetições). As parcelas foram constituídas de linhas de 2 m, espaçadas de 0,5 m, contendo 30 plantas após o desbaste. Estas foram colhidas em bulk (que correspondem às gerações RC1F3 e RC1#F3) e avaliadas novamente no ano agrícola 2010/11, utilizando o mesmo delineamento experimental, tipo de parcela e local. Foram avaliados os seguintes caracteres: número de dias para florescimento (DF), altura da planta no florescimento (AF), número de dias para maturação (DM), altura da planta na maturação (AM) e produção de grãos (PG). Para os dois tipos de populações, RC1 e RC1#, foram estimados os seguintes parâmetros: média geral, amplitude de variação, distribuição das frequências, variância genética entre progênies (σ2p), variância aditiva (σ2A), variância fenotípica entre médias de progênies (σ2F), e resposta esperada com seleção (Rs). As médias foram similares para a maioria dos caracteres entre as populações RC1 e RC1# dentro de cada ano. Entretanto, houve um acréscimo das variâncias genéticas na população intercruzada para a maioria dos caracteres, o que era esperado com base em um modelo de um loco com dois alelos. Consequentemente, a resposta esperada com seleção para PG foi 39% maior, em média, para as populações intercruzadas (RC1#F2 e RC1#F3). Estes resultados indicam que uma geração de intercruzamento após o retrocruzamento é importante em programas de melhoramento genético de soja. / There is limited information on using random mating after backcrossing in soybeans. This work was carried out to evaluate the effects of one generation of random mating after backcrossing on the means, frequency distributions, genetic variances and responses to selection in a soybean population. The basic population was derived from a two-way cross between two inbred lines contrasting for grain yield and backcrossed to the higher yielding one. One hundred and seventeen progenies derived from a not random-mated backcross population (RC1F2 progenies) and one hundred and eighteen progenies derived from a random-mated backcross population (RC1#F2 progenies) were evaluated in the 2008/09 growing season at Anhumas Experimental Station, of the Department of Genetics, ESALQ/USP, located in Piracicaba, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Evaluation trials were carried out using an 11x11 quadruple lattice design (four replications). Plots consisted of 2 m rows spaced by 0.5 m, with 30 plants after thinning. The entries were harvested in bulks (which correspond to RC1F3 and RC1#F3 progenies) and evaluated again in the 2010/11 growing season, using the same experimental design, plot size and location. The following traits were recorded: number of days to flowering (DF), plant height at flowering (AF), number of days to maturity (DM), plant height at maturity (AM), and grain yield (PG). The following parameters were estimated for both RC1 and RC1#: general mean, amplitude of variation, frequency distribution, genetic variance among progenies (σ2p), additive variance (σ2A), phenotypic variance on a progeny mean basis (σ2F), and expected response to selection (Rs). For most traits general means were similar for RC1 and RC1# populations within years. However, genetic variances increased after one generation of random mating, for most traits, which was expected based on a one-locus two-alleles model. Thus, expected response to selection on a progeny mean basis for grain yield (PG) was 39% higher, on average, for the random-mated populations (RC1#F2 and RC1#F3). Overall, the results indicate that one generation of random mating before selfing in backcross population is useful in soybean breeding programs.

Inbreeding occurs when relatives mate and have offspring. Inbreeding depression is hypothesized to have influenced the evolution of mating systems and behavioural mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance in the animal kingdom. Inbreeding in the wild is difficult to measure, as in order to build a pedigree allowing us to identify matings between relatives, the identity of as many as possible members of a population needs to be known. For a long time, the main source of knowledge about inbreeding depression was based on laboratory and agricultural studies, which did not reflect the array of environmental pressures wild populations have to cope with. In consequence, the deleterious consequences of inbreeding have often been underestimated. This is problematic because accurate estimates of the effect size of inbreeding depression are needed to study the strength of selection on inbreeding avoidance mechanisms, and are also of importance to conservation genetics. The aim of this thesis was to use pedigree data to infer the occurrence and effects of inbreeding using over forty years of breeding events of the great tit Parus major from Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire. The effects of inbreeding on fitness were investigated across a life-history continuum, and across environments. I found that close inbreeding (f=0.25) resulted in pronounced inbreeding depression, which acted independently on hatching success, fledging success, and recruitment success, and reduced the number of fledged grand-offspring by 55%. My results therefore suggest that estimates of fitness costs of inbreeding must focus on the entire life cycle. I also show that the variation in the strength of inbreeding depression varies across environments, particularly so the more the environmental variable considered is linked to fitness. These results emphasise the need of using relevant environmental contrasts when investigating inbreeding by environment interactions. I further asked whether individuals involved in matings with relatives differed relative to individuals mating with unrelated partners. I did not find any evidence for clear predictors of inbreeding, and I show that inbreeding depression in our population is entirely independent of any tendency for low quality parental genotypes, or phenotypes, to inbreed. Neither did I find any evidence for active inbreeding avoidance: great tits did not mate less often with kin than expected based on several scenarios of random mating, nor did I find increased rates of extra-pair paternity among birds breeding with relatives. In fact, I observed quite the contrary, as birds mating with kin exhibited a higher than average rate of close inbreeding relative to all scenarios of random mating investigated, showed lower rates of extra-pair paternity and divorce than birds mated to unrelated partners. I hypothesise that cases of occasional inbreeding in this population may result from mis-imprinting or a related process whereby some birds develop particularly strong bonds that are at odds with all predictions of avoiding inbreeding. Finally, I asked to what extent natal dispersal, a behaviour that is often hypothesized to play an important role in avoiding inbreeding, indeed reduces the likelihood of inbreeding. I found that male and female individuals breeding with a relative dispersed over several-fold shorter distances than those outbreeding. This led to a 3.4 fold increase (2.3-5, 95% CI) in the likelihood of close inbreeding relative to the population average when individuals dispersed less than 200m. This thesis demonstrates that inbreeding has deleterious effects on a wild population of birds, occurring throughout an individual’s life, and is of varying strength across environments. My findings strongly support the theory that natal dispersal should be considered as a mechanism of prime importance for inbreeding avoidance.