Variability in growth and yield among sweet corn genotypes grown under organic crop management

Abstract

Organic sweet corn growers depend on the available varieties even though they are bred for intensive farming systems and they have to select the variety most suited for organic production. The present study was addressed to elucidate the pattern of variations among 20 sweet corn genotypes under the organic farming system and to classify them into distinct groups on the basis of their agro-morphological characteristics. Data were collected from two growing seasons for growth and yield characteristic and subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses. Combined analysis of variance across two seasons revealed that tasseling date, harvesting date, kernel-row number, and marketable yield exhibited significant season x genotype interaction effect, while the rest of the observed characters showed significant both season and genotype effects. Principal component analysis showed that first season data had first three principal components with eigenvalues > 1 accounted 82% of the total variation, while second season data had first two principal components with eigenvalues > 1 accounted for 79%. In both seasons, ear length, ear diameter, ear weight, and marketable yield were the most important characters in the first principal component. Based on cluster analysis, the genotypes could be classified into 5 clusters for both seasons. These results can be used by the growers in deciding the most suitable sweet corn variety for organic production.