Genetic diversity in accessions of 10 Mexican races of intermediate altitude maize

Abstract

The diversity of maize (Zea mays L.) in Mexico is wide and there is still a need to carry out works that allow to discern the variation within and between racial groups and establish collections of racial reference for their understanding. The morphological diversity of representative populations of 10 mexican maize races was assessed. In the spring-summer cycle of 2010, experiments were established with 88 representative accessions of Bofo, Celaya, Coscomatepec, Dulce de Jalisco, Elotes Occidentales, Mushito, Palomero de Jalisco, Serrano de Jalisco, Tablilla de Ocho, and Zamorano Amarillo races, in the localities of Roque, Guanajuato and Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, under an experimental design of incomplete blocks, 30 morphological characters were measured. The analysis of variance indicated significant differences among the accessions for all the characters (variables). The repeatability analysis showed that 16 characters had a coefficient ≥ 3.0, these were the least affected by the environment. In the analysis of main components and conglomerates, variation within and between races was observed, with a continuous dispersion, but which allowed the identification of four racial complexes. Group I was made up of accessions mainly from Bofo, Celaya II, Dulce de Jalisco III and Elotes Occidentales IV, the remaining races are mostly added in group II as subgroups. This study confirmed clustering of accessions in well-defined races and represented in germplasm banks. It is necessary to conduct deeper studies in races with few accessions to achieve a better racial definition.