Phenotypic Variability of Some Maize Inbreed Lines from ARDS Turda

Abstract

The inbreed lines collection from the Agricultural Reseach and Development Station Turda include inbreed lines created on the station, but also lines with a different origin.The aim of this paper is the study of the phenotypic variability between maize inbreed lines for vegetative traits of the plant and the traits of ear and kernels: plant height, ear height, number of leaves/plant, number of branches/tassel, reaction to different types of cms, ear lenght, number of rows, number of kernels/row, kernels type, kernels color, cob color and the chemical composition of the grains. Using the phenotypic characterisation there are identified new sources for some favorable traits that can be used for the breeding of competitive hybrids. The study also refered to the number of days between sowing to silking, and sowing to physiological maturity. On this study there were analyzed over 471 dent and flint inbreed lines from ARDS Turda. The inbreed lines were studied on the field regarding vegetative traits: the plant height, the ear height, number of leaves/plant and the number of branches/tassel. On the laboratory there were studied the ear and kernels traits. Using all the data obtained there will be choosen some inbreed lines that are used for the maize hybrids breeding programs. Most inbreed lines belong to the dent variety and most lines have a short or medium long ear. It was also noticed a high proportion of lines with 14-18 kernel rows. There is a high variability between the lines regarding the plant height, ear hight and the number of kernels/row, and a very high variability for the number of branches/tassel. The inbreed lines from ARDS Turda can be used as parents for the commercial hybrids. The variability between the lines makes them more valuable, due to the fact that there are a lot of sources for maize improvement programs.