Morphology of tassel components and their relationship to some quantitative features in maize

Abstract

Discovering the relationships among plant morphological and quantitative features is very important in maize breeding and production, particularly if they can be altered by selection or agro-technical methods. We examined tassel characteristics (tassel weight, tassel stalk diameter, number of primary branches, total length of branches, tassel length from lower and upper branches, Tassel Area Index) and several quantitative features (plant height, ear height, LAI, number of leaf, yield, 1000-kernel weight, test weight) of 12 hybrids in randomized block design during two subsequent years on two locations. Our aim was to find correlation between traits. Tassel weight was positively correlated with total number of branches (0.59**), number of primary branches (0.53**) and tassel area index (0.63**), and negatively correlated with plant height (−0.45**) and yield (−0.39**). Tassel area index was negatively correlated with plant height (−0.63**) and yield (−0.55**), as were number of branches and Leaf Area Index (0.39**). Number of primary branches showed medium correlation with plant height (−0.43**). Test weight correlated negatively with plant height, ear height, yield, leaf area index (LAI) and 1000-kernel weight. Because a number of these traits are highly heritable, these correlations could be used as a basis for indirect selection of special features in maize breeding programs.