Selección recíproca recurrente en poblaciones de maíz para trópico seco y bajío mexicano

Abstract

Reciprocal recurrent selection in maize populations for dry tropic and Mexican Bajio . This assay deals with the heterotic dent-flint pattern in two experiments of reciprocal recurrent selection (RRS). The populations under study are of intermediate maturity, named as follows: Pob. A and Pob. B in the Experiment I, and the late maturity populations Pob. 43 and Pool. 23, in the Experiment. II. These experiments were established at locations in Celaya, Gto. and Gómez Palacio, Dgo., Mexico, in order to evaluate the populations agronomic performance and heterosis. The combined analysis of variance detected differ ences (P<0.05 and P<0.01), among top crosses for all traits. An analysis of main components was also practiced through which the top crosses were grouped according to the first three main components, which explained more than 80% of the variability. The estimated genetic gain for yield through the RRS was higher by 43% for the populations of intermediate maturity (AG = 1.637 t ha’) as compared to the ones of late maturity. In spite of these, the highest heterosis is expected between the late maturity populations given the greater genetic distance (D2 of Mahalanobis) among them; however, the greater diver gence was shown between the groups Pob. A and Pool. 23 which could be eligible for a hybridization program that includes them in outstanding heterotic combinations.