Popping quality attributes of popcorn hybrids in relation to weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) infestation

A set of 21 popcorn hybrids were evaluated at multilocations to study the effects of weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) infestation on popping quality traits. Wide genetic variation for percent popping expansion (PPE) and grain popping percentage (GPP) after weevil infestation were observed. PPE and GPP varied from 6.09–85.21% and 4.33–66.67%, across locations, respectively. The mean PPE was 52.90%, while same for GPP was 23.46%. Significant effects of environment and genotype × environment interactions were observed for both PPE and GPP. Strong positive correlation (r=0.89) across locations was recorded between PPE and GPP. Despite weevil infestation, popcorn hybrids viz., PH114 (PPE: 83.18%, GPP: 54.11%), PH110 (PPE: 69.27%, GPP: 33.11%), PH103 (PPE: 65.84%, GPP: 26.78%), PH112 (PPE: 64.91%, GPP: 29.22%) and PH109 (PPE: 64.48%, GPP: 29.00%) were identified as promising with desirable popping quality traits. Many of the popcorn hybrids possessed undesirable popping characteristics (12 hybrids with <60% PPE; 18 hybrids with <30% GPP) upon infestation. Despite having a common notion that popcorn genotypes are relatively resistant than other types of maize grain, many of the popcorn hybrids were highly susceptible to weevils leading to undesirable popping quality attributes. The study emphasizes the need for breeding weevil resistant popcorn genotypes possessing desirable popping quality attributes.