Morphological diversity of maize landraces of northern Tanzania

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN CROP SCIENCE OF SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE. MOROGORO, TANZANIA. 2016

An experiment was conducted in the Northern Zone of Tanzania during the growing season 2014/2015. The aim of the study was to characterize the maize landraces collected at farm level and establish the diversity that exists in Northern Tanzania for landraces maize growers. The experiment with fifteen maize landraces was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were collected on vegetative and reproductive variables. Data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Diversity Index by Shannon-Weaver for morphological traits using GenStat software and XLSTAT 2015 software. Pattern analysis for the relationship among landraces was achieved through cluster analysis; Dendrograms were developed using a hierarchical agglomerical clustering method. Associations among maize landraces were identified by principal component analysis and path coefficient for association among yield and yield components. Six principle components accounted for 84.23% of the total variation. Three clusters were generated where by cluster one comprised landraces DK-MB1, DM-KR1, MA-BB4, DA-MB4, AJ -MB3, JL-KR5, LE-MB2. Cluster two included landraces DQ-BB5, PD-KR2, JM-AR1, AD-KR3, AJ-BB2 and the third cluster comprised MP-BB1, TD-KR4, BN-BB3 landraces. High diversity index by Shannon-Weaver Index was obtained with pooling index of (0.99). High heritability for studied traits ranged from 67.09% (Number of primary branches) to 98.85 %(days to 50% silking). Genotypically 100 seed weight (0.87) and number of kernels per row (0.80) were significant and positive correlated with grain yield. Phenotypic plant height was significant positive correlated with ear height (0.93). Path coefficient analysis showed that 100 seed weight correlated significant positively with grain yield (0.87) indirect effect via plant height (0.87), number of kernels per row correlated significant positively with grain yield (0.80) and indirect effect via plant height (0.82).