VARIETAL PATTERN AND GRAIN YIELD OF LOCAL MAIZE FROM THE TEHUACAN VALLEY, PUEBLA

Abstract

The Tehuacán Valley, in Puebla state, Mexico, is recognized as a center of domestication and diversity for several cultivated species, including maize (Zea mays L.); however, only one research has reported the potential of local maize populations for tender cob production at this region, and there are no studies related to their varietal pattern and grain yield. The goal of this study was to identify the varietal pattern of local maize populations in the Tehuacán Valley, to select outstanding populations in grain yield to form the genetic basis for a local plant breeding process. In the PV 2009 cycle, 95 local maize populations, three racial and two commercial (hybrids) controls were evaluated, under irrigation, with a simple 10 × 10 lattice design, at three localities with soils that presented high pH values and low nutritional levels. Grain yield and phenological, agronomical, grain and tender cob traits were recorded and analyzed with a statistical combined analysis. Local maize populations showed better adaptation than controls. The varietal pattern from Tehuacán Valley was conformed with white (60 %), blue (35.8 %), and red (4.2 %) corn kernels. Local populations were 95 % early, with 82 to 96 days to female flowering (DFF), a commercial control performed as ultra-early (less than 82 DFF), and another performed as early. Early maize were more yielding than ultra-early ones, and there were statistical differences among populations for 85 % of the variables. Local populations far exceeded in grain yield to the commercial controls. In these varieties, by means of two models, 10 outstanding maize populations were selected on the basis of their average grain yield and low interaction with the environment. The varietal pattern of local maize populations of Tehuacán Valley is integrated by early populations of white, blue and red color grain, in which a genetic basis was defined for a local plant breeding process.