Interrelationships Among Plant Height, Number of Leaves, and Flowering Dates in Maize1

Abstract

AbstractWe evaluated the effect of different environments on the interrelationships among three morphological traits in corn (Zea mays L.) to see if relationships observed in limited environments held true over widely different growing conditions.Data on number of days from planting to anthesis, plant height, and number of leaves per plot were obtained from 10 corn strains involving three greenhouse planting dates and 23 strains planted at 20 different locations ranging in latitude from 21° North (Mexico) and 49° North (Canada). The results indicated that although plant height at maturity was highly correlated with number of days from planting to anthesis in a limited range of environments, this relationship was very low when considered over a wider range of environments. In most cases, the relationship between number of leaves at maturity and number of days from planting to anthesis was even lower than that for plant height and number of days from planting to anthesis, especially when considered over wider environmental conditions. A significant correlation existed between plant height and number of leaves for most strains. The degree of relationship among the three characteristics varied among strains.