Correlation between quantitative traits that affect grain yield of maize hybrids

The selection of pairs for hybridization requires knowledge about the correlation of the most important quantitative traits that affect grain yield of maize hybrids. The current study was carried out in the Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy” located in the south of the Rostov region with unstable moisture. The years of study (2018–2020) were arid (HThC 0.32–0.89). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the correlation between quantitative traits and their influence on grain yield of maize hybrids under arid conditions. The objects of research were 96 interline maize hybrids. The analysis has identified the correlation between grain yield and such quantitative traits as ‘one maize ear weight’ (r = 0.64...0.87), ‘number of grains per one maize ear row’ (r = 0.37...0.75), ‘number of grains per maize ear’ (r = 0.32...0.51), ‘number of maize ears per plant’ (r = 0.41...0.53), ‘grain yield’ (r = 0.45...0.64). The traits ‘1000-grain weight’ and ‘number of grain rows’ had either no or slight effect on the formation of grain yield of maize hybrids (r = -0.12...0.28). There have been established the traits, the high values of which were well-combining in one genotype. The values of the trait ‘one maize ear weight’ raised due to an increase of the trait ‘number of grains per one maize ear row’ (r = 0.27...0.74), ‘number of grains per maize ear’ (r = 0.26...0.55), ‘grain yield’ (r = 0.21...0.52). The trait ‘number of grains per maize ear’ raised with an increase in the values of such constituent components as ‘number of grains per one maize ear row’ (r = 0.70...0.76), ‘number of grain rows per maize ear’ (r = 0.59...0.66), and also with an increase of ‘number of maize ears per plant’ (r = 0.32...0.51) and ‘grain yield’ (r = 0.36...0.38). There have been identified difficulty-combining quantitative traits, when the value of the trait ‘1000-grain weight’ decreased with the increase of the ‘number of grain rows per maize ear’ (r = – 0.18...-0.56), ‘number of grains per a maize ear row’ (r = -0.15...-0.31) and ‘grain yield’ (r = -0.01...-0.36).