In plant breeding, correlations between the statistics of stability and adaptability of popcorn cultivars are not yet well understood. Therefore, the objectives of the present experiment was to investigate the correlations between r 2 di and b i from Eberhart and Russell, x i from Wricke, S ð1Þ i , S ð2Þ i and S ð3Þ i from Huehn, P i from Lin and Binns and the rank-sum from Kang, and indicate the most reliable method for selecting popcorn cultivars. These statistics were estimated by data of crop yield from 19 Brazilian genotypes under 21 environments and popping expansion under 16 environments. The x i , S

We estimated general and specific combining abilities and examined resistance to northern leaf blight (Exserohilum turcicum) and to gray leaf spot (Cercospora zeae-maydis) in a set of nine inbred popcorn lines. These inbreds were crossed in a complete diallel scheme without reciprocals, which produced 36 F(1) hybrids. Two experiments with a square lattice design and three replications were conducted during the 2008/2009 crop season, in Maringá, PR, Brazil. The severity of northern leaf blight and gray leaf spot was assessed under natural infestation conditions. Data were examined by individual and joint analysis of variance. Individual and joint Griffing's diallel analyses were carried out for adjusted means. General combining ability and specific combining ability were significant (P < 0.10) by the F-test for northern leaf blight and gray leaf spot infestation levels. This denotes that additive and non-additive gene effects both contributed to resistance to these diseases, but that the additive gene effects were more important. Among the inbred lines, P(8) and P(9) gave the highest resistance to northern leaf blight, and P(3) and P(4.3) gave the highest resistance to gray leaf spot. The hybrids P(7.4) x P(8) and P(4.3) x P(9) could be exploited by reciprocal recurrent selection to provide genotypes with both northern leaf blight and gray leaf spot resistance. Significant interaction between general combining ability and crop season (P < 0.10) denotes the importance of environment, even though the disease levels in the hybrids were quite consistent.

ABSTRACT. Corn grits are used for various purposes such as flakes, snacks, livestock feed, hominy, extruded products, beer, etc. The grit size proportion varies according to the hybrid, and thus, once the use of the grits is linked to the particle size, determining the genetic effects is essential to develop hybrids for any specific use. For this purpose a complete diallel series of crosses, involving eight parents, was performed near Maringá, PR, Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities of 28 progeny for selection of hybrids for breeding programs and extraction of inbred lines for hybrid development. The response variables, such as plant height, ear insertion height, crop stand, grain yield, and grits, small grits and bran production, were gauged and appraised for each of the 28 progeny. The trait effects and GCA were significant for all response variables, while for SCA, only grain yield and crop stand showed significance (P < 0.05), according to Griffing (1955) analysis. A significant weak negative 6549 ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 13 (3): 6548-6556 (2014) Diallel analysis of corn gritting ability partial correlation was found between grain yield and grits conversion. In relation to the hybrid selection for breeding programs, the parent IAC Nelore was highly recommended for recurrent selection and the hybrids IPR 119 x HT 392 and IAC Nelore x HD 332 for the extraction of pure lines for hybrid development.

ABSTRACT.The present study aimed to analyze, through 12 morpho-agronomic traits and 18 micro satellite loci, the genetic diversity in 17 common bean accessions from the Bean Germplasm Bank of the Center for Applied Agricultural Research of the State University of Maringá (BGF/Nupagri/UEM), in Paraná State, Brazil. Genetic diversity was assessed by joint analysis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics using the Genetics platform of SAS software. To that end, a dissimilarity matrix was constructed based on the Jaccard index. This was used to generate a dendrogram via UPGMA hierarchical clustering, validated by multidimensional scaling and nonorthogonal principal components analysis. Based on genetic diversity analysis, the accessions were clustered into two large groups: one consisting of 11 accessions of Andean origin and the other containing six Mesoamerican accessions. The 17 accessions from the BGF/Nupagri/UEM were found to be an important source of genetic variability for inclusion in common bean breeding programs, contributing to the development of cultivars with desirable agronomic characteristics.

No abstract