Alberto José Prioli; Carlos Alberto Scapim; Sônia Maria Alves Pinto Prioli; Talge Aiex Boni; Alessandra Valéria de Oliveira; Renata de Souza Panarari; Vanessa Silva Retuci; Elisete Santos Macedo and Rejane Mara Prati
Soluble aluminum in acid soils can induce severe phytotoxic effects, leading to a decrease in both the mitotic activity of roots and the yield of cultivated plants. Intraspecific variability for aluminum tolerance has been described in many species. However, results from studies on transmission of this trait are conflicting because they indicate monogenic and quantitative inheritance, prevalently with the expression of more than one locus. The aim of this research was to evaluate the inheritance of tolerance in a family of maize (Zea mays L.) consisting of aluminum-tolerant and aluminum-sensitive parental inbred lines, and their progenies. Net Seminal Root Length (NSRL) was analyzed in seedlings grown in nutrient solution containing 4.5 μg/mL aluminum. NSRL distributions in F2 and in backcrosses with the aluminum-sensitive parent were bimodal and indicated ratios 3:1 and 1:1, respectively. It is concluded that, in this family, tolerance is inherited as a single trait with a main locus effect.