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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #158404
Title: GENOTYPE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS AND STABILITY ANALYSES OF KERNEL-IRON AND -ZINC CONCENTRATIONS IN TROPICAL MAIZE

Author
item OIKEH, S - IITA
item MENKIR, A - IITA
item MAZIYA-DIXON, B - IITA
item Glahn, Raymond
item Welch, Ross
item GAUCH, H - CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Plant Breeding
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2004
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Analysis of the pattern of genotype-environment interactions (GEI) and stability of micronutrients is important in breeding for enhanced nutritional quality of staple food crops as a means to alleviate malnutrition. Forty-nine late-maturing elite tropical maize varieties were evaluated over two years at three locations representing three distinct agroecologies in West and Central Africa (WCA). The objectives were to analyze the pattern of GEI and stability of kernel-Fe and -Zn concentrations; and to identify varieties with specific or broad adaptation to diverse environments. Not surprisingly, the results indicated that the agroecologies (i.e. environment) and growing season were factors influencing Fe and Zn concentrations. This work provides an important foundation for future work in improving iron and zinc content of edible maize in West Africa.

Technical Abstract: Analysis of the pattern of genotype-environment interactions (GEI) and stability of micronutrients is important in breeding for enhanced nutritional quality of staple food crops as a means to alleviate malnutrition. Forty-nine late-maturing elite tropical maize varieties were evaluated in a lattice design with two replications over two years at three locations representing three distinct agroecologies in West and Central Africa (WCA). The objectives were to analyze the pattern of GEI and stability of kernel-Fe and -Zn concentrations; and to identify varieties with specific or broad adaptation to diverse environments. The data were analyzed using the AMMI analysis. Variety-by-location and variety-by-year-by-location were the dominant sources of GEI. IPCA1 scores from the AMMI accounted for about 40% of the pattern of GEI for both micronutrients. Environmental effect was not significant for kernel-iron and was significant but with low contribution to the total variation (10%) for kernel-zinc concentration. No single location elicited consistent concentration of both micronutrients in the varieties during the two years of study. The yellow variety, DMR-LS-Y, had high and stable kernel-Fe and -Zn concentrations across environments.