Abstract

BASTIDAS, Yakelin; CHASSAIGNE, Alberto; ALEZONES, Jesús  and  HERNANDEZ, Alexander. Agronomic and phytopathologic behaviour of maize varieties (Zea mays L.) in Yaracuy and Guárico States, Venezuela. Bioagro [online]. 2015, vol.27, n.1, pp.17-26. ISSN 1316-3361.

Maize in Venezuela is affected by several pathogenic fungi that cause yield reduction and damaged grain. The small and medium farmers demand affordable cultivars with high yield potential and good agronomic performance. The maize breeding program of DANAC Foundation offers open pollinated varieties (OPV) as an alternative for low income producers. In 2011 trials were conducted in order to characterize two new DANAC OPV and compare them with four commercially available varieties. Trials for agronomic performance evaluation were planted in two farms located in Tucupido (Guárico State) and San Javier (Yaracuy State). Simultaneously, these cultivars were evaluated in laboratory conditions for resistance to Fusarium verticilloides (FV) and Aspergillus flavus (AF) through seed inoculation, and Rhizoctonia solani (RS) through plant inoculation. No interactions cultivars by location were detected, except for the flowering time. The highest yields were observed in Tucupido. The new variety DANAC-5021 had the highest value for days to anthesis at both locations, and in the pooled analysis showed the highest grain yield (4708 kg·ha^-1),  endosperm  fraction (78.2 %)  and  specific  gravity (0,804 kg·L^-1),  and  the  lowest  value  for  lodging (less than 4 %). The new variety DANAC-5023 was more resistant than any other cultivar against AF and FV grain colonization and against RS plant infection. The superior performance of these new varieties evidence the positive effect of selecting parents of OPVs for high per se yield and enhanced resistance to pathogens.

Keywords : New varieties; plant breeding; resistance to diseases; yield.

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