Patent ID: 8779233

Claim:
A method for determining an ear productivity trait in maize, said method comprising: isolating genomic DNA from a maize plant, germplasm, pollen, or seed; analyzing genomic DNA from the maize plant, germplasm, pollen, or seed for the presence of a molecular marker linked to a quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with an ear productivity trait in maize, wherein the molecular marker is selected from the group consisting of L00401, L004011, c 1.loc28, L01176, c 2.loc70, c 2.loc66, L01157, L00033, L000331, L00198c, L00198c1, c 3.loc52, L01138, L011381, c 4.loc126, c 4.loc1261, L00280, L00133, c 4.loc106, L01028, L010281, L00576, L005761, c 4.loc52, c 4.loc521, c 4.locl 14, L00589, L00134, c 5.loc47, c 5.loc471, L00221, L002211, c 5.loc73, L00110, c10.loc51, c10.loc50, SNP — 35511, SNP — 98111, SNP — 23951, SNP — 79262, SNP — 19249, SNP — 9084, SNP — 99055, SNP — 77055, SNP — 45551, SNP — 30953, SNP — 84678, SNP — 89298 — 2, SNP — 32823, SNP — 4623, SNP — 90941, SNP — 81248, SNP — 82913, SNP — 93907, SNP — 90380, SNP — 49724, SNP — 51496, SNP — 11948, SNP — 18689, SNP — 61221, SNP — 105143, SNP — 84372, SNP — 27764, SNP — 95039, SNP — 75795, SNP — 70805, SNP — 43846, SNP — 98032, SNP — 63437, SNP — 94161, SNP — 34738, SNP — 88270, SNP — 2880, SNP — 36300, and SNP — 77712; detecting at least one molecular marker that is associated with an ear productivity trait; and selecting a maize plant having the ear productivity trait.