<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Good knowledge of genetic merits governing the inheritance of economic traits is of paramount importance to plant breeders for crop improvement. Objectives of the study were to investigate the genetic nature of ear traits in sweet corn (<italic>Zea mays</italic> convar. <italic>saccharata</italic> var. <italic>rugosa)</italic> based on the general and specific combining ability (GCA and SCA) analysis, and to determine the breeding potential of eight promising inbred lines for the development of new hybrid cultivars well suited for organic production. Thirty-six genotypes (hybrid families) derived from a half diallel cross design were grown under organic crop management at three agro-ecological zones of the tropics. Although the genotypes varied significantly for all the observed ear traits, some of them showed clear inconsistencies in performing husked ear size (length, diameter, and weight), kernel row number, and kernel number per row across environments. The combining ability analysis showed that additive gene action was more preponderance than non-additive gene actions in governing the inheritance of the studied ear traits. The inbred lines: Caps 5, Caps 17A, Caps 17B, and Caps 22 showed their potential as good partners for the improvement of ear performances as to the development of superior sweet corn cultivars for organic production.</p></abstract>

Good knowledge of genetic merits governing the inheritance of economic traits is of paramount importance to plant breeders for crop improvement. Objectives of the study were to investigate the genetic nature of ear traits in sweet corn (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa) based on the general and specific combining ability (GCA and SCA) analysis, and to determine the breeding potential of eight promising inbred lines for the development of new hybrid cultivars well suited for organic production. Thirty-six genotypes (hybrid families) derived from a half diallel cross design were grown under organic crop management at three agro-ecological zones of the tropics. Although the genotypes varied significantly for all the observed ear traits, some of them showed clear inconsistencies in performing husked ear size (length, diameter, and weight), kernel row number, and kernel number per row across environments. The combining ability analysis showed that additive gene action was more preponderance than non-additive gene actions in governing the inheritance of the studied ear traits. The inbred lines: Caps 5, Caps 17A, Caps 17B, and Caps 22 showed their potential as good partners for the improvement of ear performances as to the development of superior sweet corn cultivars for organic production.

Combining Ability Analysis of Ear Characteristics of Sweet Corn Hybrids Suitable for Organic Crop Production

Journal of Horticultural Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Good knowledge of genetic merits governing the inheritance of economic traits is of paramount importance to plant breeders for crop improvement. Objectives of...

Combining Ability Analysis of Ear Characteristics of Sweet Corn Hybrids Suitable for Organic Crop Production

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 81 - 90

Received: Mar 01, 2019

Accepted: Aug 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johr-2019-0013

Keywords
sweet corn, ear characteristics, half diallel, general combining ability, specific combining ability, organic crop management

© 2019 Mohammad Chozin et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Combining Ability Analysis of Ear Characteristics of Sweet Corn Hybrids Suitable for Organic Crop Production

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 81 - 90

Received: Mar 01, 2019

Accepted: Aug 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johr-2019-0013

Keywordssweet corn, ear characteristics, half diallel, general combining ability, specific combining ability, organic crop management

© 2019 Mohammad Chozin et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
sweet corn, ear characteristics, half diallel, general combining ability, specific combining ability, organic crop management