Genetic Diversity among Maize (Zea mays L) Genotypes Based on Fodder Yield and Quality Parameters

Abstract
Maize (Zea mays) is cultivated all over the world including Pakistan for fodder and grain. Genetic diversity and environmental effects greatly affect the fodder yield and quality in maize. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the genetic diversity among 31 maize genotypes for fodder and quality related traits. Genotypes were collected from the Australian Grain Gene Bank and grown under field conditions with three replications following randomized complete block design. The morphological traits such as plant height (cm), leaf area (cm2 ), leaf-stem ratio (wt. basis), stem girth (cm), leaves plant-1 , days to 50% silking, days to 50% silking, leaf moisture (%), dry fodder yield plant-1 (g), green fodder yield plant-1 (g) and quality traits such as crude protein (%), ether extract (%), ash content (%), crude fiber (%) and nitrogen-free extract (%) were recorded. Analysis of variance, biplot analysis and genotypic and phenotypic correlation were performed. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences with days to 50% silking, days to 50% tasseling, plant height, stem girth, leaf area, leaves plant-1, moisture percentage, green and dry fodder yield, crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract, ash content and nitrogen free extract and non-significant differences with leaf stem ratio. At phenotypic and genotypic level, dry fodder yield plant-1 , plant height, stem diameter, leaf moisture %, No. of leaves, days to 50% silking, crude fiber and ether extract revealed significant correlation with fodder yield plant-1 . Biplot analysis based on PCA for different quantitative parameters showed that first two principal components i.e F1, F2 are contributing 23.29% and 14.53 % to the total variations respectively. Based on all the results the best genotypes were DTMA-271, DTMA-15, DTMA-281 and DTMA-295 could be used in breeding programs.