Abstract
Correlation coefficients and stability of grain yield were determined using 6 extra-early quality protein maize (QPM) parental inbred lines and their F1 (15) single crosses evaluated in selected ecological zones of Ghana. The objectives were; to estimate the genetic correlation between grain yield and other agronomic traits and to determine the stability of the single cross hybrids across four locations. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications was used for each location. Estimates of correlation coefficients and stability analysis of grain yield was done using Genstat 9.2 and additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) statistical model (MATMODEL 2.0). Results from phenotypic correlation of grain yield showed highly positive correlation with thousand grain weight (TGW) and number of kernels per row (NKR) across all locations suggesting that selection efficiency could be improved through indirect selection. AMMI analysis revealed non-significant genotype by environment interaction (GEI) for grain yield whilst genotypic and environmental main effects were highly significant. However, the contribution of the environment was higher which suggests that anyone of the locations used in this study can be used for subsequent evaluations in order to manage the limited resources available for the testing program. Key words: Correlation, stability, grain yield.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereals cultivated in the world and a primary staple food in many developing countries
Six extra-early quality protein maize (QPM) F6 inbred lines were obtained from International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria (Table 1)
GY; Grain yield; DTA; days to 50% anthesis; DTS, days to 50% silking; Anthesis–silking interval (ASI), anthesis-silking interval; PHT, plant height; EHT, ear height; TGW, thousand grain weight; CL, cob length; CD, diameter; NRC, number of rows per cob; NKR, number of kernels per row; SL, stem; RL, root l odging. *, Significant (P
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereals cultivated in the world and a primary staple food in many developing countries. In most maize breeding programs, among all the agronomic traits, a particular attention is paid to grain yield. Correlation measures the degree of association between two or more characters and is measured by a correlation coefficient (Hallauer and Miranda, 1988). This could be influenced by genetic or environmental (non-genetic) effects. Genetic correlation is associated with the breeding values of two characters (Falconer, 1989) and their measurements can be identified directly in a number of individuals in a population (Hallauer and Miranda, 1988)
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