Selection of Maintainer Line in Open-Pollinated Onion (Allium cepa L. cv. “Manchuhwang”) using SCAR Marker Linked to Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Factor

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the major condiment vegetables in Korea. Cytoplasmic-genic male sterility (CMS) system is used on a commercial basis for F1 hybrid development. Onion has biennial nature and strong self-depression, so breeding of inbred lines are taken a long period about 8 to 10 years. To breed a maintainer line highly adopted in long-day condition, SCAR marker and test crosses were used. We selected N-cytoplasm plants using sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker from ‘Manchuhwang’ (open-pollinated cultivar), which was bred by National Institute of Highland Agriculture (NIHA). Selected N-cytoplasm plants were crossed with male sterile inbred line (W202A, Wisconsin Univ., USA). A total of 66 crosses were accomplished, and 34 crosses could be analyzed for the nuclear restore allele. Among 34 combinations, the offsprings of one combination showed all male sterility and this line was selected as the maintainer line in the ‘Manchuhwang’. This maintainer line was just available with materials for F1 hybrid seed production without fixing of characters with male sterile line.