Accurately estimating inbreeding is important because inbreeding reduces fitness and production traits in populations. We analyzed information from pedigrees and from microsatellite markers to estimate inbreeding in a line of Japanese quail derived from a randombred line (QO) and maintained for 17 generations by pedigreed matings of brothers to groups of sisters. Pedigree data were used to calc...

In social animals, inbreeding depression may manifest by compromising care or resources individuals receive from inbred group members. We studied the effects of worker inbreeding on colony productivity and investment in the ant Formica exsecta. The production of biomass decreased with increasing inbreeding, as did biomass produced per worker. Inbred colonies produced fewer gynes (unmated reprod...

Winter hardiness is a complex trait and poor winter hardiness limits commercial production of winter oat (Avena spp.). The objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for fi ve winter-hardiness component traits in a recombinant inbred line population derived from a cross between the winter-tender cultivar Fulghum and the winter-hardy cultivar Norline. Crown freezing to...

heat stress is a major environmental stress limiting wheat productivity in most cereal growing areas of the world. in order to map and characterize quantitative trait loci controlling heat tolerance, 144 recombinant inbred lines deriving from the cross of kauz and mtrwa116 were assessed in a greenhouse and growth chamber at 35°c. one hundred and sixty six ssr and 3 aflp markers were used to...