Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Sikha Snehal, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Ajay Kumar

Abstract:
Eighteen quality protein maize (QPM) inbred lines were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications during two seasons. An analysis of variance of the data pooled across the season revealed significant genetic differences among the inbred lines for days to 50% silking, days to 50% tasseling, days to 75% brown husk, plant height, ear height, cob length, cob girth, number of kernels in a row, number of kernels in a cob, test weight and grain yield per plant. The eighteen QPM inbred lines were divided into five groups using Mahalanobis D² statistics and the Tocher technique. Cluster I consisted of 10 QPM inbred lines, Cluster II had 4 QPM inbred lines, Cluster III had 2 QPM inbred lines and the rest of the clusters (IV and V) were mono-genotypic. As a result, the D² analysis proved to be a very useful tool for identifying different groups from the inbred lines under investigation.