Numerical Classification of Western Balkan Drought Tolerant Maize (Zea mays L.) Landraces

Abstract

Global warming and predictions of climatic changes additionally put breeding for drought tolerance in the focus of breeding programmes for maize. Extensive studies on the existing gene bank collection of the Maize Research Institute "Zemun Polje" have been performed with the aim to identify and form initial sources for the development of maize inbreds more tolerant to drought. All accessions (about 6,000) were exposed to controlled drought stress in Egypt. Out of this number, approximately 8% of the tested genotypes were selected. In this study attention was given to 321 selected Western Balkan maize landraces, adapted to temperate climate growing conditions and the day length. Data derived from morphological characterization according to CIMMYT/IBPGR descriptors for maize, along with the application of numerical classification methods, were used to define homogeneous landraces groups based on morphological similarities. Results obtained from hierarchical and non-hierarchical analyses revealed the formation of 11 divergent groups. According to the obtained grain yield and visually scored stalk lodging and stay green, approximately 15% of the accessions from each of 11 groups were selected. Further investigations are towards defining their heterotic patterns and their possible utilization in developing and improving synthetic populations.