Knowledge of the association between characters is very important in the genetic breeding programs, but there is limited information about correlations between traits in maize landraces in the current literature. The objectives of this study were to estimate phenotypic, additive genetic and environment correlations among traits in maize landraces, which were cultivated in family farm systems, in order to guide the participatory breeding on maize landraces. Between 294 and 400 half-sib progenies from the six populations were evaluated, subdivided in triple 7X7 and 10X10 lattice design, respectively, with single row plots of 4 m long and spaced 1.00 × 0.20 m. Estimates of correlation coefficients are reported for nine traits: grain yield (GY), relation grain weight per ear weight (GE), ears per plant (EP), days to flower (DF), plant height (PH), ear height (EH), percentage of root loding (%L), percentage of stalk loding (%BS) and percentage of damaged ears (%DE). A high number of additive genetic correlation (rA) was obtained between grain yield and the other traits, in maize landraces populations, cycles and locations. For grain yield, the highest averages of the rA estimate were with EP (0.67), GE (0.47) and %DE (-0.63). In contrast to the current published researches, negative correlations between grain yield and days to flower were observed.
Zea mays L.; population; recurrent selection; participatory breeding
