DISSECTING PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY AND TRAIT ARCHITECTURE IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) GENOTYPES THROUGH MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL APPROACHES

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a versatile cereal crop of global significance. It is often referred to as the "Queen of Cereals" because of its highest genetic yield potential among cereal crops.  Efficient crop improvement relies on the identification of genotypes with superior yield potential, favourable plant architecture, and desirable agronomic attributes. The experimental study was done using 39 maize genotypes during rabi season 2023-2024 under irrigated condition in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with two replications for 11 quantitative traits. Principal component analysis revealed that PC 1 TO PC 5 had eigen value of more than 1 and contributed for maximum variability indicating that these components were sufficient to represent the overall diversity present in the evaluated genotypes. PC1 exhibited the highest eigenvalue (3.65) and accounted for 33.19% of the total variance which explained that it was the most important contributor to the genetic variability. PC2 explained 16.94% of the variation, and PC3, PC4, PC5 contributed 12.58%, 10.28% and 9.46% of variation respectively. In correlation study, plant height (0.5058), ear height (0.419), and ear length (0.446)  exhibited significant positive correlations with plant yield, indicating their importance in contributing to higher yield. Ear length was positively and significantly associated with kernels per row (0.427) and number of kernel rows per cob (0.409), highlighting its contribution to yield component development. Hence, the findings from the study will provide useful guidance for the identification and selection of superior maize genotypes in breeding programmes aimed at improving grain yield performance.