Classification of genetic diversity for drought tolerance in maize genotypes through principal component analysis

Water scarcity is a universal environmental constraint for agricultural sustainability and production. Two field experiments were accomplished during the 2012 and 2013 growing seasons in two sites: the experimental farm of Suez Canal University, Ismailia and Romana Province, North Sinai, Egypt to evaluate 21 genotypes of maize comprising six inbred lines and their 15 F1 crosses for their drought tolerance. The experiments were arranged as a split-plot design with three replications, where moisture levels (100 and 50% of evapotranspiration) and maize genotypes were allocated to main plots and sub-plots, respectively. Results showed reduction in performance for most measured traits in response to water stress with varying degrees with yield plant-1 being the most affected. Inversely, proline and relative water content and anthesis-silking interval were increased. Correlation results confirmed the reduced grain yield with the increasing anthesis-silking interval, and suggested kernels row-1, relative water content, peroxidase activity and rows ear-1 in Ismailia, and rows ear-1, relative water content, peroxidase activity, kernel weight in Romana were indirect selection criteria for increasing yield in water scarcity environments. Principal component (PC) analysis showed that three PCs having Eigen value >1 explained 70.67 and 70.16%; 69.79 and 71.38% of the total variability among genotypes in control and stress conditions in Ismailia and Romana, respectively. The crosses P1×P3, P4×P6, P3×P5 and P1×P5 were classified as drought tolerant under Ismailia and Romana conditions. On the other hand, P1xP4, P3xP4, and P4 were considered as drought sensitive in Ismailia conditions. In addition, P5, P2×P4, P1×P4 and P5×P6 were the most affected by water deficiency under Romana conditions.