Physiological determinants of maize grain yield: heritability and correlation analysis in a dent × flint-Caribbean RILs family.

D'ANDREA, K.E.; MANDOLINO, C.; GALIZIA, L.A.; SECO, A.V.; CIRILO, A.G.; OTEGUI, M.E.

Long Beach, Los Angeles, CA

Congreso; ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings; 2014

American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America & Soil Science Society of America

The understanding of physiological traits related to maize grain yield provides a useful framework for assisting molecular studies aimed to crop breeding. The objectives of this research were (i) to perform a detailed phenotyping of 23 traits related to phenology, light capture, biomass production and partitioning, numerical components of plant grain yield (PGY) and N metabolism, and (ii) to establish their correlation and heritability (h2). A population of 193 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) and its parental inbreds (B100 and LP2) were grown in the field during two seasons (Exp1: 2009-2010; Exp2: 2011-2012) in a completely randomized block design with two replicates. Five (Exp1) or seven (Exp2) plants were tagged in each plot at V3, and measurements were performed on these plants until maturity. Significant genotypic (G), year (Y) and G×Y interactions effects (P0.70) for thermal times to anthesis and silking, BRE, BPEcp and kernel weight; (ii) intermediate (0.70>h2>0.4) for kernel number (KNP), harvest index (HI), NHI, plant and ear growth rates and N use efficiency (NUE), and (iii) low (h2