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Exploiting Grain-Filling Rate and Effective Grain-Filling Duration to Improve Grain Yield of Early-Maturing Maize

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/7421/
http://dx.doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2013.01.0032
 
Title Exploiting Grain-Filling Rate and Effective Grain-Filling Duration to Improve Grain Yield of Early-Maturing Maize
 
Creator Gasura, E
Setimela, P
Edema, R
Gibson, P T
Okori, P
Tarekegne, A
 
Subject Maize
 
Description Early-maturing maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes yield 15 to 30% less than late-maturing genotypes. One strategy for improving grain yield in the early-maturing group involves assessment of grain-filling traits as secondary traits for selection for high grain yield. In this study, we investigated the possibility of using grain-filling rate and duration for improving grain yield in early-maturing tropical maize. Forty-four hybrids generated using North Carolina design II were evaluated at CIMMYT-Zimbabwe during the 2011/2012 season under irrigated and nonirrigated environments. Although grain-filling rate and effective grain-filling duration were negatively correlated, several hybrids were distinctly above the trend line. The earliest-maturing hybrid took 127 d to reach physiological maturity and produced grain yields comparable to those of the medium-maturing genotypes (7 t ha−1). It had a high grain-filling rate of 2.40 g per plant d−1 (18% higher than those of the low-yielding hybrids) and a relatively longer effective grain-filling duration. Grain-filling rate and effective grain-filling duration had high coefficients of genetic determination, positive correlations with grain yield, low error terms, and low genotype × environment interactions, making them appropriate selection traits for improved grain yield. The study shows that it is possible to develop high-yielding early- to medium-maturing maize hybrids based on favorable combining ability values for grain-filling rate and duration.
 
Publisher Crop Science Society of America
 
Date 2013
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/7421/1/cs-53-6-2295%281%29.pdf
Gasura, E and Setimela, P and Edema, R and Gibson, P T and Okori, P and Tarekegne, A (2013) Exploiting Grain-Filling Rate and Effective Grain-Filling Duration to Improve Grain Yield of Early-Maturing Maize. Crop Science, 53. pp. 2295-2303. ISSN 0011-183X