옥수수 葉角, 葉幅, 葉長의 遺傳

Inheritance of leaf angle, width and length in maize

Maize yield could be increased by selecting promising individual plants with ideal plant type not only for total leaf area index(LAI), but also for larger leaf size near the extremes of the canopy. This approach might have limits as total LAI is increased unless selection for leaf angle is practiced concurrently because above leaf angle is very important to increase the productivity at greater LAI than 5.0. Estimated value for leaf angle at the third leaf above and below the ear leaf, and for leaf width and length of topmost ear leaf of three inbred lines and their diallel cross F₁ and F₂ were obtained to investigate the inheritance of leaf angle, width and length. Third leaf above the ear leaf of topmost ear was tied more errect than that of third leaf below the ear leaf. Leaf width became larger when planted on April 23 than May 22, but leaf length became little longer when planted on May 22 than April 23. The cross between two inbreds with maximum-different leaf angle was 41.7˚ for the above leaf, and 31.0˚ for the below leaf expressed high heterosis in F₁ and F₂ population. Leaf angle showed the highest heritability (0.508) among three leaf characters. Among three crosses, Hi39/KS75 showed the highest heritability for leaf angle and length, and Ga209/KS75 for leaf width. Leaf angle, width and length revealed normal distributions in F₂ populations. The erect type, larger and longer leaf presented complete or partial dominance. The frequency distribution patterns of three characters showed similar curvatures at two planting times in F₂ populations of three crosses.