To define breeding strategies, the understanding of trait inheritance is critical. The objective of this study was to determine the inheritance of popcorn under different water regimes. To this end, Hayman’s diallel methodology was used, with 8 parents and 28 hybrids. The experiment was carried out under well-watered conditions (WW) and water stress (WS). For popping expansion (PE) under both water regimes, the effects of complete dominance and greater importance of the components associated with the dominance effects were observed. In contrast, the number of dominant genes was zero and the determination coefficient in the narrow sense was >50%; additive effects were also present. For the number of grains per row (GR), ear length (EL), and grain yield (GY) under WS and WW conditions, the dominance effects were the most relevant, and the mean degree of dominance with overdominance effects and greatest relevance of the components associated with this effect were also observed. The same breeding methods can be applied under the studied WS and WW conditions. Exploiting heterosis for GY and related components is a promising way to adapt popcorn to WS. To be able to capitalize on additive and dominance effects, a reciprocal recurrent selection is recommended.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of additive and non-additive genes on the efficiency of nitrogen (N) use and N responsiveness in inbred popcorn lines. The parents, hybrids and reciprocal crosses were evaluated in a 10x10 triple lattice design at two sites and two levels of N availability. To establish different N levels in the two experiments, fertilization was carried out at sowing, according to soil analysis reports. However, for the experiments with ideal nitrogen availability, N was sidedressed according to the crop requirement, whereas for the N-poor experiments sidedressing consisted of 30% of that applied in the N-rich environment. Two indices were evaluated, the Harmonic Mean of the Relative Performance (HMRP) and Agronomic Efficiency under Low Nitrogen Availability (AELN), both based on grain yield at both N levels. Both additive and non-additive gene effects were important for selection for N-use efficiency. Moreover, there was allelic complementarity between the lines and a reciprocal effect for N-use efficiency, indicating the importance of the choice of the parents used as male or female. The best hybrids were obtained from inbred popcorn lines with contrasting N-use efficiency and N responsiveness.

Drought is a common abiotic stress in tropical and subtropical regions that limits the growth and development of agricultural crops, mainly impacting grain yield. Acting through plant breeding is the most viable alternative for obtaining genotypes more tolerant of environments with stress. This work aims to select popcorn genotypes for environments with drought and to identify discriminating traits for the evaluation of drought tolerance in popcorn germplasm. Fifteen Latin American populations of popcorn were evaluated in water stress (WS) and well-watered (WW) conditions. The evaluated traits were based in morpho-agronomic, physiological and radicular descriptors. Data were submitted to individual and joint ANOVA and GT Biplot analysis. Variability was detected between populations for all traits in both conditions. The drought caused a reduction of 30.61% and 3.5% in grain yield and popping expansion, respectively. Based in GT biplot analysis, 880POP was the most stable in WS and WW, being indicated as a promising population for cultivation in environments with water limitation. This study is going to allow the establishment of a collection of great importance to maize germplasm and to provide information to facilitate the process of selection in breeding programs focused on drought tolerance.

O objetivo do presente trabalho é caracterizar biometricamente os frutos e sementes de Passiflora cristalina Vanderplank & Zappi ocorrentes na região de Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso. Foram coletados em 2013 um total de 100 frutos maduros de 15 genótipos e destes foram selecionadas 300 sementes aleatoriamente. Os frutos foram analisados quanto ao comprimento, largura, espessura, peso, espessura da casca, o peso da polpa, o peso das sementes/fruto, número de sementes/fruto e teor de sólidos solúveis. As sementes foram avaliadas em relação ao comprimento, largura, espessura e índice de volume. As características biométricas foram analisadas mediante distribuição de frequência calculando-se o coeficiente de correlação de Spearman e o nível de significância através do teste T. O comprimento do fruto correlacionou-se positivamente com a largura e peso do fruto, espessura da casca e com peso das sementes, não havendo uma correlação com o número de sementes por fruto. Houve uma ampla distribuição de frequência das características avaliadas nos frutos, com exceção do peso das sementes. A alta variação fenotípica encontrada para a maioria das características avaliadas nos frutos e sementes de P. cristalina revela que a espécie tem divergência genética a ser utilizado em programas de seleção e conservação de recursos genéticos.Palavras-chave: divergência genética, maracujá, recursos genéticos. BIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF FRUITS AND SEEDS OF Passiflora cristalina Vanderplank & Zappi ABSTRACT: The present work has presented the fruits and seeds of Passiflora cristalina Vanderplank & Zappi occurring in the region of Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso. A total of 100 mature fruits of 15 genotypes were collected in 2013 and 300 seeds were randomly selected. The fruits were inert to the length, thickness, thickness, weight, bark thickness, pulp weight, seed/fruit weight, number of seeds / fruit and soluble solids content. The seeds were evaluated for length, width, thickness and volume index. The biometric characteristics were analyzed with the calculation frequency calculated with the Spearman correlation coefficient and the level of significance throughout the T test. Fruit weight was correlated with fruit width and weight, bark thickness and weight of the fruits. Seeds without a key with the number of seeds per fruit. There is an offer of food distribution in the fruits, with the exception of the weight of the seeds. The high phenotypic variance found for a greater number of species evaluated in fruits and seeds of P.cristalina reveals that a type of genetics has been characterized in programs of selection and conservation of genetic resources.Keywords: genetic divergence, passion fruit, genetic resources.

The UENF WS01 is a hybrid that has an early cycle and high grain yield capacity under low water and nitrogen availability. It maintains popping expansion even under abiotic stress, thus being recommended for cultivation in the North and Northwest of the State of Rio de Janeiro.