VARIATION IN AGRONOMICAL TRAITS AMONG HERBICIDE TOLERANT M3 AND M4 MAIZE LINES

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess variation in agronomical traits among 39 herbicides tolerant M3 and 37 M4 maize lines during March to July 2015 and September 2015 to January 2016 respectively.  The experimental design was a randomized complete block in triplicates. Data were taken on plant height, ear diameter, hundred seed weight, ear length, grains row-1 and ear-1, total ears plant-1, yield plant-1, ear height and herbicide tolerance. Data were analyzed using Genstat 14th edition at 5% level of significance. The results indicated significant (p<0.05) variations among M3 and M4 for all traits except rows ear-1 and total ears plant-1. The highest yielding M3 and M4 lines were 520-58 and 520-38_3 recording 116.2g plant-1 and 151.1g plant-1 respectively but yields were lower than check varieties (165.3g) and (183.5g) respectively. The most herbicide tolerant M3 and M4 line were 513-12 and 520-38_3 taking 25 days and 28.5 days to ultimate death respectively. Grain yield plant-1 correlated significantly and positively with most traits in M3 while the positive and significant correlation with 100 seed weight, grains row-1 and total ears plant-1 in M4. Overall, results indicated that induced mutation could serve as a good source of variation for use in plant breeding.