Development of a core subset of Chilean maize populations by near infared transmittance spectroscopy

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Ejikemenwa I Anih.
Dr. Mark Campbell, Faculty Mentor.

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Plant-genetic resources, currently maintained by the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System, are an important source of genes for improving yield, pest resistance and grain quality. Since collections are often large, core subsets are used when screening for traits in order to minimize redundancy of crop accessions. Core subsets have previously been developed by multivariate analysis of morphological data. The objective of this project has been to develop a core subset of maize germplasm based on the analysis of near infrared spectra of grain so that the subset will display a maximum amount of diversity with regard to grain composition traits. Using near-infrared spectra of 309 Chilean maize accessions, an attempt was made to identify distinct groupings that were used to establish the subset. The near infrared core subset was then compared to random subsets by examining diversity for grain characteristic including thermal properties of starches as measured by differential scanning calorimetry.