Evaluation of source material for sweet maize by the main breeding characteristics

Topicality. The sweet maize grain differs from other maize subspecies in its high sugar content: the grain accumulates 2 times more mono- and disaccharides, 20 times more dextrins, and almost 2 times less starch, with a crude protein content of 10.4–14.9 %. The main direction of sweet maize breeding is to develop the high-yielding interline hybrids that are suitable for mechanized harvesting of cobs, and resistant to main diseases and pests, as well as characterized by high technological grain qualities. To effectively solve these challenges, it is necessary to know the morphological and biological characteristics and properly select the source material (self-pollinated lines). Purpose. To study of morphological and biological characteristics of sweet maize lines. Materials and methods. Visual phenological observations; laboratory-field method was used to determine morpho-biological characteristics of plants; measuring and weighing method – to determine yield and metric characteristics of plants; mathematical and statistical method - to determinate validity of results, variability of traits, correlational dependence of traits; analysis of variance; comprehensive assessment of morpho-biological and economically valuable characteristics of inbred lines. Results. According to analysis of sugar composition, the studied samples revealed a high content of monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, etc.) in the lines HOL-1 1411111, HOL-1 1411211, DKS346 114, DINAR346 141, HOL-19 and disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose) in HOL-1 1411211, SVAN1212 123, HOL-19. These indicators are important in the deep processing of sweet maize for the food industry an individual product and as one of the components in the culinary products. These mono- and disaccharides are used to produce sweets, sweet or alcoholic drinks and sauces. The following DINAR346 141, HOL-1 1411511 lines had a low level of sucrose content: 3.7 and 4.6 %, respectively. Conclusions. According to the results of research on the breeding material of sweet maize, it was identified the self-pollinated families with high taste qualities (7 points), such as HOL-1 1411111, HOL-1 1411211, DKS346 114, HOL-4 1411141 and HOL-19, which will be involved to develop competitive high-yielding hybrids with a high sugar content in grain, increased taste and technological qualities in the sweet maize breeding programs in the future. Key words: sweet corn, line, sugar content, seed productivity, grain taste