Abstract
Super sweet corn breeding must develop hybrids that fully meet the expectations of the market. In this sense, the determination of keytraits for the selection of sweetcorn genotypes is a fundamental condition for breeding success. The objective of this work was to identify key traits for the selection of promising and contrasting genotypes of super sweet corn. The experiments were carried out in Guarapuava (PR), in two sowing dates. Seventeen traits related to the yield and quality of the ear were evaluated. To perform the multivariate analysis, data were subjected to diagnosis of multicolinearity, analysis of canonical variables, genetic divergence, hierarchical clusters, factor analysis, and canonical correspondence analysis. Grain yield, yield of dehusked ears, and number of commercial ears were considered related key traits in the identification of promising super sweet corn genotypes. Hybrid D3-20 × D5-41 presented higher averages than the others, considering the yield related keytraits.
Highlights
Super sweetcorn (Zea mays var. saccharata) is exclusively used for human consumption, in natura or processed, due to its high concentration of sugars in the endosperm
The multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) showed significant differences among the vectors of the genotypes means for all the evaluated traits (p < 0.01), indicating the existence of genetic variability
The multicollinearity among the traits was evaluated by Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) and Condition Index (CI) criteria
Summary
Super sweetcorn (Zea mays var. saccharata) is exclusively used for human consumption, in natura or processed, due to its high concentration of sugars in the endosperm. Sweetcorn grains are used in the immature stage of development because of the great content of sugars in the endosperm (Alburquerque et al 2008). Among the several known mutant recessive genes that, separately or jointly, affect endosperm sugar content, eight have been employed in the obtainment of cultivars: Amilose Extender (ae), Brittle (bt), Britlle (bt2), Dull (du), Shrunken (sh2), Sugary (su), Sugary Enhancer (se), and Waxy (wx) (Hallauer et al 1988, Hossain et al 2013). Even though there are several maize breeding programs in Brazil, which are responsible for the production of new hybrids that increase productivity and profitability in this sector, options of super sweetcorn hybrids are still scarce. In sweet corn breeding programs, a large number of traits are evaluated; in many cases, they are misinterpreted due to the uncertainty of the traits considered key in the selection of promising genotypes (Ayodeji et al 2019; Taylor and Whelan 2010)
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