Maize (Zea mays L.), a major cereal crop, contains a diverse range of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins. Maize genotypes have great diversity in tocopherol (vitamin E) content, which works as an antioxidant and stress tolerant and greatly improves kernel nutritional value. The objective of this study is the screening of maize genotypes for high grain tocopherol content and their association study with other biochemical traits. This study evaluated 27 maize genotypes for grain tocopherol content and other yield- and yield-contributing agrochemical traits. The data underwent the analysis of variance (ANOVA), descriptive statistics, PCA-biplot, and Pearson correlation assessment. The ANOVA showed significant variances for all traits. Mean data indicated G27 and G8 are elite genotypes for both grain yield and tocopherol content. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive interaction of tocopherol content with oil content and kernel rows and a negative association with days to anthesis. Grain yield per plant has a strong positive interaction with a hundred-seed weight and oil content. In the future, these genotypes can be beneficial to developing biofortified maize hybrids, and these traits’ interaction study could help in the indirect selection by improving the selection criteria. Additionally, the screening of indigenous maize germplasm provides elite genetic resources crucial for initiating biofortification breeding programs aimed at enhancing the vitamin E content of maize hybrids.
Maize (Z. mays L.), genotypes, tocopherol, principal component analysis, correlation, biofortification
The maize (Z. mays L.) germplasm has a great diversity in yield and tocopherol content. Screening of maize genotypes for superior tocopherol genotypes will open new horizons in tocopherol biofortification in maize. This study investigated three high-tocopherol-containing genotypes (G25, G8, and G23) that can be effective in hybrid breeding programs. Additionally, the association study will help in understanding the interaction of tocopherol with other traits, and it can be beneficial to developing an indirect selection method for high-tocopherolic genotypes.