Analysis of some quantitative traits of local maize populations

Albena Pencheva

Abstract: Three-year study of a collection of 17 local maize accessions with a different geographical origin from the IPGR Sadovo ex situ collection was conducted. The Bulgarian hybrid Kn 435 is included in the study for comparison. Biometrical measurements are made of the following quantitative traits: plant height (cm), number of ears per plant, leaf length (cm), leaf width (cm), ear length (cm), number of kernel rows, mass of 1000 seeds (g) and length of grain (mm). By applying the cluster analysis based on the economic indicator – grain yield per unit area, the maize accessions are grouped into five clusters. Mathematical evaluation of morphological and economical traits through ANOVA with Duncan's test for demonstrating of differences was performed. From the results it is seen that the accession with a catalog number B0E0168 is with a small height of the plants, but with the highest value (363 g) in absolute mass of grain. By the trait ‘number of kernel rows’ the accession № 88BM29 exceeds the St Kn 435, which is well proved at a significance level of 0,05. The characterization of the study accessions defined the valuable genetic resources for combinational selection.

Keywords: analysis; ex situ collection; local populations; maize; productivity

Date published: 2019-01-16