| Multiple races of maize have been cultivated for centuries in the southwestern USA and northern Mexico. These landraces, used primarily for human food consumption, display considerable genetic variation for traits such as kernel color and texture. Traditional cultivation of these landraces has declined overall, but blue maize has received increasing commercial interest. Our objectives were to evaluate grain yield, agronomic and morphological traits, and analyze the kernel biochemical composition of six blue and purple southwestern USA landraces representative of regional diversity. Comparisons were made with selected open-pollinated populations derived from southwestern and Corn Belt blue maize across several New Mexico locations in 2012 and 2013. Biochemical composition of amino acids, oil, protein, starch, fatty acids, crude fiber, ash and pigment content were determined. Across all locations and years, grand mean of grain yield for all accessions was 2.11 Mg/ha. Navajo Blue and Hopi Blue were the highest and lowest yielding accessions across all locations and years, respectively. The majority of southwestern landraces displayed higher oil content, and two displayed higher protein content, than the Corn Belt Dent population. Little variation in amino acid content was observed. Considerable morphological variation existed for plant, ear, and kernel traits consistent with the presence of several races, or of racial admixtures. In comparison to modern hybrids, yields were low, as anticipated; however, variation in oil, protein and essential amino acids combined with elevated anti-oxidants may provide beneficial dietary nutrition. |
