1Assam Seed and Organic Certification Agency, Guwahati-781 007, Assam, India
2Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785 013, Assam, India
3Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785 013, Assam, India
4Zonal Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Gossaigaon-783 360, Assam, India
5Arunachal University of Studies, Namsai-792 103, Arunachal Pradesh, India
6Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagaland University, Medziphema-797 106, Nagaland, India
*Corresponding Author: Hiramani Barman, Assam Seed and Organic Certification Agency, Guwahati-781 007, Assam, India, Email: hiramonibarman93@gmail.com
Online published on 20 February, 2026.
Maize has wider adaptability and high yielding ability among the cereals. North-East India is a hotspot of the biodiversity of maize. Lots of local germplasms are distributed throughout various eco-geographic situations of hills and the plains of the entire region. Characterization of local germplasm of maize helps to identify genotypes with different features and also depicts a picture on genetic variability in the genetic resources studied.
The present investigation comprised of a set of thirty five local germplasm along with five check hybrids in the crop was raised in augmented randomized block design duing rabi 2019 at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. Observation was recorded for twenty three quantitative characters. Analysis of variance and estimation of genetic parameter were done by using R software.
The present study revealed that the genotypes differed significantly among themselves for all the characters except ear leaf width and leaf width. Moderate to high estimates of GCV and PCV were recorded for all the traits except days to 75% dry husk, days to maturity and moisture content. Moderate to high estimates of heritability and genetic advance percent of mean were observed for all the traits. Grain yield per plant exhibited positive and highly significant correlation with traits namely ear length, ear diameter, kernel rows per ear, kernels per row, kernel length, kernel width and 100 kernel weights. PCA generated four principal components with an eigen value of more than 1.0 accounting for 67.74% of the overall variation present in maize germplasm.
Genetic variation, Heritability, Local germplasm, Maize, PCA
