Evaluation of CIMMYT drought tolerant maize germplasm for resistance to weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulky) damage

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate and assess the phenotypic correlation between the primary and secondary weevil resistant traits of 20 drought tolerant (DT) late maturing maize hybrids (LHYB) to weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky) damage. Well-conditioned experimental samples with uniform grain moisture content were infested with 32; 10 to 14 day old weevils in the controlled temperature and humidity (CTH) environment for 55 days. Data were collected on kernel volume (KV) and grain hardness (GH) at the start of the experiment, percent weevil mortality (%WM) at the 21 st day and percent grain weight loss (%GWL) and F 1 weevil progeny emergence (F 1 WPE) at the 55 th day of oviposition. Data were collected on starch, oil and protein content to confer resistance to weevil damage. There were highly significant differences (P<0.001) in F 1 WPE and %GWL, (P<0, 01) in KV while no significant differences were observed for %WM and GH. The obtained data confirmed that, there was a positive and significant correlation between F 1 WPE and %GWL, while a negative and significant correlation was observed between F 1 WPE and %WM.