Seed germination and vigor of landrace maize populations with different proportion of vitreous endosperm

Abstract

The physiological seed quality atributes assayed in the laboratory are important components to extend the characterization of germplasm. Thirty-fve landrace maize (Zea mays L.) populations with different types of endosperm were evaluated to determine the relationship between vitreous endosperm, seed germination and seedling vigor. The study was carried into two phases. During the frst phase, the following structural characteristics were determined: grain weight, floury endosperm weight, vitreous endosperm weight, pericarp weight, germ weight and grain weight; while, in the second phase, germination rate (%), vigor (seedling length), number of normal plants, number of abnormal plants and number of dead seeds were determined. Differences (p = 0.01) in the structural and physiological characteristics of the seeds were found between landrace maize populations. The comparison of means by Tukey test (p = 0.05) detected differences between maize populations in terms of structural and physiological variables. The canonical correlation analysis revealed that the most influential variables in the structural canonical variable 1 were vitreous endosperm weight and grain weight, while the physiological variable 1 was associated with abnormal plants, dead seeds, vigor and germination. According to the value r = 0.7051, structural characteristics are directly related to the physiology of the seed.