Abstract
The knowledge of heritability helps the plant breeder to understand the performance of an attribute under consideration in next generation. Fourteen genotypes including one local check were assessed at the experimental farm of The University of Agriculture, Peshawar during spring 2016. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (P≤0.01) for days to anthesis, days to silking, plant height, ear height, cob length, kernel rows cob-1 and 100-kernel weight, whereas grain yield revealed non-significant differences (P>0.05) among the genotypes evaluated. Genotypes, PSCV-9, PSCV-11, PSCV-13 and Azam as a check showed minimum days to anthesis (77.33), while minimum days to silking (79.33) were exhibited by Azam as a check. Genotype, PSCV-8 showed minimum plant height (107.13 cm) and ear height (41.73 cm), while maximum plant height (147.33 cm) and ear height (70.86 cm) was observed for PSCV-12. Genotype, PSCV-8 showed minimum ear length (17.28 cm), while maximum ear length (22.47 cm) was observed for PSCV-4. Minimum number of kernel rows cob-1 (12.33) were observed for PSCV-8, while maximum number of kernel rows cob-1 (15.33) were observed for PSCV-4. Minimum 100-kernel weight (28 g) was observed for PSCV-5 and Azam as a check, while maximum 100-kernel weight (38 g) was observed for PSCV-3. Low to moderate broad sense heritability estimates were observed for all the traits except for days to anthesis and days to silking which showed high to moderate heritability estimates. The present study revealed considerable amount of diversity among open pollinated maize varieties which could be utilized for further improvement in maize breeding.
Highlights
Maize belongs to family of grasses (Poaceae) and ranks third in cereals [1]
Breeding material was comprised of 14 maize varieties which were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications
The maize varieties evaluated were PSCV-1, PSCV-2, PSCV-3, PSCV-4, PSCV-5, PSCV-6, PSCV-7, PSCV-8, PSCV-9, PSCV-10, PSCV-11, PSCV-12, and PSCV-13 while Azam was used as a check
Summary
Maize belongs to family of grasses (Poaceae) and ranks third in cereals [1]. It is a monoecious plant with staminate flowers on the terminal branched end of a tall erect stem (tassel) and pistillate flowers on axillary shoots [2]. In the beginning of floret development, staminate florets develop on the ear shoot and pistillate florets may develop on the tassel, but they usually remain rudimentary. Axillary shoots develop in acropetal succession during early stages of plant development [3]. The area under maize cultivation in Pakistan was 1168.5 thousand hectares with the production of 4944.2 thousand tons. In Punjab, area under cultivation was 689.3 thousand hectares with the production of 4020.8 thousand tons, while in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, area
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