Variability in Yield and Yield Components of Selected Pro-vitamin A Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties in a Humid Environment of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the magnitude and nature of genetic variation present in seventeen pro-vitamin A (PVA) maize varieties, investigate the extent of association among agronomic characters responsible for yield and its components in the maize varieties and evaluate the performance of the maize varieties. The field experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Rivers State University, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt under rain fed conditions in May, 2018 and were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were collected on established plants per plot, days to 50% silking, days to 50% anthesis, anthesis-silking interval, plant height, ear height, final stand count, number of ears harvested, grain moisture content, field weight and grain yield. Results showed significant differences (P < 0.01) among varieties for all traits evaluated. PVASYN-13 had the highest grain yield per hectare among other varieties. High heritability estimates coupled with high genetic advance were observed in established plants per plot, anthesis-silking interval, final stand count, number of ears harvested, field weight and grain yield, an indication of the additive nature of their inheritance. Thus, the presence of variation could serve as basis for selection for yield improvement in maize.

Genetic diversity and gain quantitative characters of maize from index-based selection at two dry lands in Lombok, Indonesia

“…The traits of 50% anthesis, 50% silking, ASI, and harvest age had a narrow genetic diversity at a combination of two locations, <5% (Table 3). The same thing was obtained by Taiwo et al (2020) for genetic diversity, 50% anthesis and 50% silking were narrow with a CGD of 1.58 and 1.32, respectively. The heritability of the four traits was also low with a value of <20% at both locations (Table 5).…”

“…The corn cob harvest was carried out according to the harvest criteria by Sunarti and Turang (2017), namely the cob and cob hairs were dry, the seeds were hard and shiny, and when massaged with nails, there was no mark left. The observed characteristics included yield (weight of dry seeds per plot), weight of dry cob harvested per plant and weight of fresh stover per plant, plant height, total number of leaves per plant, number of fresh leaves at harvest per plant, 50% anthesis, 50% silking, Anthesis Silking Interval (ASI), harvest age, length of cob, the diameter of cob, the weight of 1000 seeds, and weight of dry shelled seeds per plant (Sudika et al 2019).…”

Genotype and Phenotype Coefficient of Variance in Maize (Zea mays L.)

“…This indicates that a sufficient range of variability in all the traits exists among the populations. Significant differences among the maize inbreds for studied characters have also been reported by [16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Direct selection parameter estimates for yield and its contributing traits in maize (Zea mays L.)

“…All the genotypes showed significant variability for all the characters studied. Significant difference among the genotypes for studied characters have also been reported by Mhoswa et al (2016) [11] , Thakur et al (2016) [21] , Shengu (2017) [19] , Bisen et al (2018) [3] , Beulah et al (2018) [2] , Bartaula et al (2019) [1] , Prakash et al (2019) [16] , Ubi et al (2019) [22] , Devi (2020) [5] , Islam et al (2020) [8] and Taiwo et al (2020) [20] . The estimates of genotype coefficient of variance (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) are presented in table 2.…”