PHENOTYPIC AND GENETIC VARIABILITY OF LOCAL EARLY MAIZE GERMPLASMFROM TRANSYLVANIA AND PROSPECTS FOR ITS USE IN IMPROVEM

Abstract

In maize, local populations are the result of the mass selection made by the farmers, following especially the production characters. The expansion in culture of American maize hybrids resulted in an increase in grain yield, but also a reduction in the areas cultivated with local populations and their process of introgression with hybrids. In recent years, European breeders, but also Romanian breeders, have begun to pay attention to the collection of local maize germplas, in the hope that it will prove useful in future breeding programs. In Romania, there is relatively little data on the phenotypical and genetic diversity of maize germplasm of the first Cycle. Turda maize collection is mainly composed of more than 300 local populations (landraces); 70 synthetics/ composites, 3 varieties, and more than 1400 inbred lines. For a deeper knowledge of the first cycle maize germplasm, a number of 8 inbred lines developed from the local populations were tested for their general combining ability by crossing with four elite inbred lines. 42 inbred lines developed from
Transylvania local populations were studied by using 80 SSR markers. In this way, it was possible to classify the 42 inbred lines, especially in 4 groups of germplasms: W 153R, F2, Lo3, D 105. Both local populations and synthetics/ composites were on average the most divergent (%) in height of ear (range value 22.3; 24.9), the number of tassel branches (range value 27.1; 27.8), ear weight (range value 22.9;20.3) and grain weight (range value 21.7; 20.9), grain oil concentration (range value 12.7;14.3) and grain fiber content 18.3 to landraces as compare to synthetics/ composites range value 9.8. The grain oil, fiber, and ash content showed high variability among the genotypes. In this context, the traditional germplasm represents a good source of genetic variability to explore and may help to identify the most suitable materials for the development of more nutritiousfoods.The objectives of this study were: i) to evaluate the potential of maize TURDA germplasm according to its plant and
ear characters as well as grain quality content ii) to estimate the extent of phenotypical and geneticalvariability and iii) to formulate a selection criterion in a breeding program.