Genetic variability and agronomic trait associations in hybrids of sweet corn (Zea mays var. saccharata) × purple Corn (Zea mays var. indurata)

¹ Agrotechonologi Department, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia
² Food Sciences and Technology, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: devi@umm.ac.id

Abstract

Purple corn has several functional advantages, such as antioxidants and nutrients, but the total cultivation was lower than that of yellow corn. Therefore, the purposes were to characterize genetic diversity, estimate the proportion of variance due to genetic effects, and perform correlation analysis among agronomic traits, based on crossing sweet and purple corn. This study evaluated six corn populations derived from sweet and purple corn crossed, including parental lines (P1: purple corn; P2: sweet corn), F1 hybrid, F2 progeny, and two backcross generations (BC1: F1 × P1; BC2: Fl × P2). Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among populations. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation (GCV and PCV) were observed for fresh ear weight with husk (FEW-H), ear length (EL), and kernel thickness (KT), indicating strong genetic control. Traits such as days to tasseling (DT), days to silking (DS), and Number of kernel rows per ear (NKRE) showed high broad-sense heritability. Correlation analysis indicated a strong positive relationship between DT and DS, and between FEW-H and ear diameter (ED), cob diameter (CD), and Number of kernels per row (NKR). A trade-off was observed between kernel width (KW) and NKRE. These findings support the selection of early-flowering, high-yielding genotypes for improvement.