The analysis of quantitative and economically valuable traits of maize lines from the VIR collection in the conditions of the foothill zone of Kabardino-Balkaria

Abstract

The current paper has presented the results of two studies in 2019–2020, the purpose of which was to analyze the main elements of productivity of maize lines from the VIR collection. The work was carried out in accordance with an agreement on scientific cooperation with the involvement of the VIR maize collection in the breeding program in the amount of 100 numbers, in the foothill zone of Kabardino-Balkaria (Chegem district, village of Nartan). The purpose of the current work was to study and evaluate the morpho-biological and economically valuable traits of maize lines from the VIR collection in the conditions of the foothill zone of Kabardino-Balkaria. Thus, according to the estimation of the quantitative traits of the maize samples, there have been selected 36 numbers. According to the plant height, there were identified 8 numbers, where the value of the trait was from 2.41 to 2.47 m, and according to the number of leaves, 8 samples were allocated from 16.4 to 16.8 pieces. According to the sign of attachment of a commercial ear, all selected lines were in the range above the mean values from 0.98–1.06 m. For other traits, there were no significant differences compared to the standard. Analysis of the elements of productivity of maize lines from the VIR collection made it possible to identify 13 samples based on ear length, considering НСР05, whose values were higher than that of the standard, and this indicator was at a level of 22.5–25.2 cm. In terms of the number of grain rows on an ear, the best results were observed in 14 lines with the trait varying from 18.0 to 18.6 pieces, and the number of grains in a row of an ear there were 18 numbers, where the range varied from 37.2 to 46.1. In terms of grain yield, there were identified the best 4 lines (from 83.5 to 87.7 % compared to the standard value of 79.6 %). In terms of one of the main and main complex traits, such as grain productivity (at 14% humidity), there were identified 6 lines, where the variation ranged from 4.01 to 4.5 t/ha.