Determination of Yield Enhancing Traits in Maize (Zea mays L.) under Water Limited and Normal Irrigated Conditions

Author: K.R.V. Sathya Sheela, S. Lakshmi Narayanan, T. Selvakumar, D. Kavithamani and N. Satheesh Kumar

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Abstract

Maize (Zea mays. L) is the most important food crop in the world for food security following rice and wheat. Drought is the most vulnerable sector affected by the rapid climate changes. The yield loss in maize is influenced by the crop stage at which drought occurs and the duration of exposure. In order to select genotypes for advanced stress breeding programs, it is important to screen them for the ability to cope with drought, particularly in rainfed environments. The current need of the drought breeding program is the screening of genotypes for its inherent capacity to with stand drought particularly under rainfed conditions. Most of the area under maize is in rainfed conditions and the identification of best genotype for rainfed conditions will meet out the current requirement. Twenty two maize hybrids were used to study the relationship of the yield associated traits under normal and rainfed conditions. Correlation study was performed among ten traits in the maize hybrids to see if there is any interdependence among the traits. The genotypes were raised in irrigated and rainfed conditions simultaneously. Plant height, cob length, number of rows per cob exhibited positive association with yield at 1% significance level. Anthesis Silking Interval showed negative association with yield at 1% significance level. The present study showed that cob characters viz., cob length, number of rows per cob, number of kernels per row, shelling percentage and early maturing genotypes with low ASI can be given more importance in selection criteria under rainfed conditions.

Keywords

Correlation, anthesis silking interval, cob length, number of rows per cob, PCA

Conclusion

In maize breeding, knowledge on the relationships among yield components is of the great importance, because it is likely to facilitate breeders to choose the most efficient selection criteria. Selection of productive genotypes under water limited conditions based on grain yield alone has often been considered inefficient and the inter-association of secondary traits of adaptive value increase selection efficiency. Hence the cob characters viz., cob length, number of rows per cob, number of kernels per row, shelling percentage can be given more importance in selection criteria as they are contributing to yield. Under rainfed conditions where the crop faces water limitations, low ASI, reduced number of tassels and stay green trait with delayed senescence will lead to partitioning to early ear growth and achieve maximum yield potential under drought conditions. The results of the study concludes that better performance in water-limited environments will be successful through selection of early vigorous silking, reduced ASI, stay green trait and leaf rolling. This will give us opportunities for selection and faster development of improved hybrids for drought tolerance.

References

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How to cite this article

K.R.V. Sathya Sheela, S. Lakshmi Narayanan, T. Selvakumar, D. Kavithamani and N. Satheesh Kumar (2023). Determination of Yield Enhancing Traits in Maize (Zea mays L.) under Water Limited and Normal Irrigated Conditions. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(10): 765-768.