Abstract
Analyses of variance for 111 characters from 55 races and subraces of maize from eastern South America grown at Piracicaba, S. P., Brazil, between 1960 and 1965, indicated that those characters which were least affected by environmental factors and interactions were reproductive characters. In particular, the component of variance due to differences among races for certain ear and kernel characters was greater than the sum of the corresponding components due to differences among years and race by year interactions. The converse was true for all vegetative characters. Tassel characters tended to be intermediate between ear and plant characters.
While some indices had larger components of variance attributable to racial differences than to the effects of environment and/or environmental interaction, some commonly used ones, such as cob/rachis and rachilla/kernel indices, proved to be quite susceptible to environmental influences. Again, indices based upon solely vegetative characters were consistently influenced more strongly by environmental factors and interaction than were those based on reproductive characters.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Abou-El-Fittouh, H. A., J. O. Rawlings, and P. A. Miller. 1969. Classification of environments to control genotype by environment interactions with an application to cotton. Crop Science9: 135–140.
Brieger, F. G., J. T. A. Gurgel, E. Paterniani, A. Blumenschein, and M. R. Alleoni. 1958. Races of maize in Brazil and other eastern South American countries. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publ. 593. Washington, D. C. 283 p.
Brown, W. L. 1960. Races of maize in the West Indies. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publ. 792. Washington, D. C. 60 p.
Comstock, R. E., and R. H. Moll. 1963. Genotype-environment interactions. Pp. 164–196in W. D. Hanson and H. F. Robinson (eds.), Statistical genetics and plant breeding. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publ. 982.Washington, D. C. 614 p.
Edwards, R. J. 1966. Comparisons of methods and procedures for intraspecific classification ofZea mays L. Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana. 100 P.
Ferris, J. S. 1966. Estimation of conservatism of characters by constancy within biological populations. Evolution20: 587–591.
Goodman, M. M. 1967. The races of maize: I. The use of Mahalanobis’ generalized distances to measure morphological similarity. Fitotecnia Latinoamericana4: 1–22.
Goodman, M. M. 1969. Measuring evolutionary divergence. Jap. Jour, of Genet. In press.
Huether, C. A., {jrJr.} 1968. Exposure of natural genetic variability underlying the pentamerous corolla constancy inLinanthus androsaceus ssp.androsaceus. Genetics60: 123–146.
Mangelsdorf, P. C., R. S. MacNeish, and W. C. Galinat. 1964. Domestication of corn. Science143: 538–545.
Margulis, L., and T. N. Margulis. 1968. A note on the equivalence of characters: pheneticist vs. phylogeneticist. Systematic Zoology17: 477–479.
Morishima, H., H. I. Oka, and T. T. Chang. 1967. Analysis of genetic variations in plant type of rice. 2. Seasonal change in genetic plant type. Jap. Jour. Breeding17: 251–261.
Paterniani, E. 1967. Banco de germoplasma de milho. Racas de milho. Relatorio Cientifico de 1967, pp. 48, 59-70. Cadeira de Citologia e Genética, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz,” Piracicaba, S. P., Brazil. 117 p.
Roberts, L. M., U. J. Grant, R. Ramirez E., W. H. Hatheway, and D. L. Smith. 1957. Races of maize in Columbia. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publ. 510. Washington, D. C. 153 p.
Sokal, R. R., and P. H. A. Sneath. 1963. Principals of numerical taxonomy. W. H. Freeman and Company,San Francisco. 359 p.
Wellhausen, E. J., L. M. Roberts, and E.Hernandez X. 1952. Races of maize in Mexico. The Bussey Institution of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 223 p.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Paper No. 2823 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Raleigh, North Carolina. This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant GM 11546.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goodman, M.M., Paterniani, E. The races of maize: III. choices of appropriate characters for racial classification. Econ Bot 23, 265–273 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860459
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860459