AgReliant Genetics, LG Seeds' parent company, has accelerated hybrid development with the innovative dihaploid breeding technology. This approach produces pure parent lines in one year, compared to three to five years using conventional methods. For corn growers, that means faster access to new purebred lines and accelerated gains in yield and profitability.

Doubled-haploid technology enhances “forward breeding” by allowing hybrids to be bred with new traits (GMO and non-GMO) without locking up the germplasm, and by developing stacks without negative side effects. This gives us an earlier look at new lines and greater knowledge about their environmental adaptability before they are fully tested, developed and marketed.

Traditional vs. DiHaploid Method

The traditional method of stabilizing the genes and developing an inbred line was accomplished by self-pollinating the plants for eight or nine generations. Using both summer and winter nursery operations, this took about three to five years to complete.

The doubled-haploid method is much faster and can produce a new, genetically stable inbred line in one year. The plants in the genetic population (germplasm pool) are pollinated with a haploid inducer. When the harvested kernels are planted, they produce haploid plants. A haploid plant has only one chromosome from each pair. One can say that a haploid plant has ten single chromosomes. A normal plant has ten pairs of chromosomes.

The haploid plants are subjected to a special treatment compound that causes the single chromosome to double – think of it as making a “photocopy” of the chromosome. The photocopy is genetically identical to the original.

The haploid that had ten single chromosomes, now has ten chromosome pairs. The plant that is grown from this seed is referred to as a doubled-haploid. The genes on the left and right chromosome of each pair are identical (one is a copy of the other). This means that the new inbred is a genetically stable parent line (homozygous). A hybrid can be produced year after year with this parent inbred and it will always be the same, identical hybrid.

The doubled-haploid method greatly reduces the time required to develop new parent inbreds. Observation, testing and selection work is conducted on these newly developed lines. The goals of the traditional method and the doubled-haploid method are the same. However, the doubled-haploid method reaches those goals much faster.