GENETIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTIVITY TRAITS IN BABY CORN

Abstract

Phenotypic and genotypic correlations estimated in 20 diverse cultivars of maize used for baby corn production using data from two years indicated that husked cob yield per plant exhibited significant positive correlation with number of cobs picked per plant, days to last cob picking, fodder yield and biological yield per plant both at phenotypic and genotypic levels. This suggests that baby corn improvement can be achieved by applying indirect selections for these four traits which are highly correlated with the husked cob yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that five traits viz., days to first cob silking, days to last cob picking, single husked cob weight, husk yield per plant and biological yield per plant at phenotypic level and eight traits viz., number of cobs picked per plant, single husked cob weight, de-husked to husked cob yield ratio per plant, tassel weight per plant, husk yield per plant, biological yield per plant, stalk weight per plant and harvest index at genotypic level exhibited direct positive effect on husked cob yield per plant. Hence, these traits should be given due importance for selecting superior genotypes specifically for baby corn purpose