Studies on morphological and molecular diversity in speciality corn ( Zea mays L.)

A study was carried out using twenty diverse speciality corn genotypes of QPM, sweet corn, pop corn and baby corn to investigate morphological and molecular diversity in speciality corn during kharif, 2015, at Instructional Farm of Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur. Morphological observations recorded, variability parameters and correlation coefficient were computed and DNA analysis was also used. The investigations revealed that sufficient variability existed in the material as characters like grain yield, stover yield, biological yield, TSS, test weight and cob height exhibited high estimates of GCV, PCV and heritability. Further some characters showed significant positive genotypic and phenotypic correlation with grain yield. Baby corn genotype HM-4 exhibited the highest performance for grain yield followed by QPM genotypes, HQPM-1, sweet corn, Madhuri and pop corn Amber pop corn identified as the best performers for grain yield/plant and most of the contributing characters. Molecular characterization through RAPD analysis also revealed high polymorphism and marked genetic diversity among the speciality corn genotypes as also reflected by their morphological differences.