EVALUATION OF 'TURDA' MAIZE GERMPLASM FOR PHENOTYPIC VARIABILITY IN GRAIN CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

摘要

Maize grain has many and diverse Uses in the food and feed industry. The diversity of applications requires characteristics of quality in accordance to that. To examine phenotypical diversity in grain content, a total of 754 maize samples were evaluated for their grain quality attributes: 265 local populations (landraces); 59 synthetics/composites and 430 "TURDA" inbred lines. Inbred lines were on average the most divergent in grain starch concentration (range value 19.9) as compared to landraces (range value 11.8) and synthetics (range value 12.5). The grain oil and ash content showed high variability among the genotypes. The quality attributes in most of the cases showed positive phenotypic correlation except grain starch contents which was negatively correlated. The objectives Of this Study were: i) to evaluate the potential of maize "TURDA" germplasm in according to its grain quality content, such as: protein, oil, fiber, ash and starch concentration; ii) to estimate the extent of phenotypical variability and correlation for various quality components and iii) to formulate a selection criterion in a breeding program.