Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Guang-Jauh Shieh

Abstract:

    The offspring seed of inbred lines and F₁ hybrid pooled from inbred lines derived from Tainan-white population planted at Wufeng were used to study the variation of pericarp characters. The results showed that significant differences in the thickness of vental, dorsal, crown, sides, and mean of whole kernel of pericarp were observed among genotypes. Crown part has the most thinner pericarp, followed by the vental and dorsal, and the kernel sides have most thicker pericarp thickness in Tainan-white maize kernel. Significantly positive correlations among pericarp thickness of different positions were observed. Vental thickness could be used as a major evaluation trait in the maize kernel pericarp improvement program. The pericarp surface area percentage of vental, dorsal, crown, and sides also showed significant difference among the inbred lines. Vental and dorsal parts have larger surface area, followed with the sides, the crown part has the smallest pericarp surface area. Our results suggest that large variations are present in the pericarp thickness of Tainan-white maize kernel providing the potential for improvement.

Key words:Tainan-white maize, Pericarp thickneness, Pericarp surface area

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