Genotype × Environment Interaction of Yield and Grain Quality Traits of Maize Hybrids in Greece

Nikolaos Katsenios,Aspasia Efthimiadou,Sofia Chanioti,Miltiadis V Christopoulos,Dimitris Leonidakis,Marianna Giannoglou,Panagiotis Sparangis,George Katsaros

doi:10.3390/agronomy11020357

Abstract

The interaction of genotype by the environment is very common in multi-environment trials of maize hybrids. This study evaluates the quantity and the quality of grain production and the stability of four maize genotypes in a field experiment that was conducted in five different locations for two years. In order to make a reliable evaluation of the performance of genotypes in the environments, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to investigate the correlation of the yield, soil properties and quality characteristics, while the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis detected the narrow adaptations of genotypes at specific mega-environments. For the yield, AMMI analysis indicated that a group of five environments (ENV1, ENV8, ENV6 ENV10 and ENV9) gave higher yields than the mean value and at the same time had low first interaction principal components axis (IPC1) scores, indicating small interactions. Regarding protein and fiber contents, ENV1 and ENV2, gave the highest values and this could be attributed to the high concentration rates of nutrients like Mg, Ca and the soil texture (C). Specifically for the protein, the results of the analysis indicated that certain environment would provide more protein content, so in order to obtain higher grain protein, growers should grow in certain locations in order to improve the content of this quality characteristic, certain genotypes should be used in certain environments.

Highlights

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a crop of major importance for the nutrition of the Earth’s population
The aim of this study was to evaluate four maize hybrids at five locations, for two years, in order to investigate how maize yield and quality characteristics of the grain are affected by the genotype by environment (GE) interaction
Yield of maize was statistically significantly influenced by genotype, environment and their interaction (Table S3)

Summary

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a crop of major importance for the nutrition of the Earth’s population. There has been an urgent need to increase its yield and its quality. There are two main factors that have approximately the same influence on yield increase; improved management practices along with plant breeding have made an impact on this cause. Even before the use of hybrids, farmers used to breed plants that seemed to fit their needs, with good adaptation at their specific environmental conditions, while maintaining their quality and morphological traits. Wherever hybrids have been adopted there has been an increase in the maize yield. Even though there was a tendency to select the high yield hybrids, the need for overall stability and dependability favors the selection of hybrids with stress tolerance. The main focus of the new hybrids now is to aim for a high and stable yield in both favorable and unfavorable growing conditions [1]. As Rosegrant et al [4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion