Pericarp thickness of Korean maize landraces

AbstractThin pericarp is one of crucial selection criteria for high-tender waxy corn hybrid development. A pericarp thickness of 2414 maize landrace accessions including 87 public waxy inbred lines was investigated to select accessions with thin pericarp and to broaden genetic diversity among waxy corn cultivars. Observed pericarp thickness of the 2414 accessions ranged from 16.0 ± 1.56 to 139.2 ± 39.55 µm with the average of 47.7 ± 13.15 µm. More than half of the accessions were below the suggested thickness of <50 µm for high-tender waxy corn hybrid development. Large sample size resulted in significant differences among endosperm types and among collection provinces. This, however, may not translate into considerable difference in tenderness since most averages of different types and collection provinces were <50 µm. Positive correlation (r= 0.55) between the average and standard deviation of pericarp thickness implied that more samples are needed to achieve same level of precision when it comes to selection for thick pericarp than that for thin pericarp. Top 10% thin-pericarped waxy landrace accessions were intercrossed to form a new waxy corn population from this result.