Research Progress and Analysis on Development Strategy of Sweet-Waxy Maize

Sweet-waxy maize is a new type of fresh maize pioneered in China. It combines the advantages of sweet maize and waxy maize. The sweet and waxy grains arranged randomly on one ear, therefore the taste is both sweet and waxy. In recent years, sweet-waxy maize has been hotly sought after by the market and has become the trend and focus of the development of fresh maize. Chinese breeders created sweet and waxy double (multiple) recessive inbred lines by polymerizing key sweet and waxy genes in the starch synthesis pathway of maize endosperm, and then crossed with waxy maize inbred lines or for hybridized combination with each other. The recessive genes were separated in the hybrid offspring so that sweet and waxy grains appeared on the same ear at the same time. The breeding of sweet-waxy maize has developed rapidly. At present, a breeding system of sweet and waxy maize combining traditional breeding methods (sweet and waxy maize hybrid combination method and sweet and waxy maize bicyclic breeding method) + modern breeding methods (molecular marker-assisted selection technology and haploid breeding technology) has been established, and the bred varieties are developing towards a diversified, high-quality, featured and functional direction. Sweet-waxy maize has high value-added, short production cycle, and can be flexibly matched with aspects of stubble, therefore, its market demand and planting area are increasing year by year. However, due to the limited genetic background of germplasm resources, high cost of inbred lines reproduction and seed production, imperfect quality evaluation system, and the urgent need for innovation in fresh-keeping and processing technology, the challenges it faces are becoming more prominent, hindering the future development of the sweet-waxy maize industry. In the study, the theoretical basis of sweet-waxy maize breeding, breeding development history, variety certification, planting distribution, planting mode and market overview were discussed, the core bottlenecks and constraints were discussed, and corresponding countermeasures were put forward, with an aims to provide theoretical basis for breeding research and industrial development of sweet-waxy maize.