Earliness and productivity of popcorn corn lines from the ‘UENF-14’ population for obtaining mini-maize

Abstract

Corn, grown throughout Brazil, stands out for occupying large areas. One of its forms of cultivation is baby corn, which can be produced throughout the year. This type of corn, young and unfertilized, is mainly enjoyed in canned food. To improve the productivity of baby corn, it is important to consider characteristics such as early maturation, low plant height, flowering uniformity and high prolificacy. In recent years, there has been a transition to more sustainable management practices, including organic farming, driven by increased demand for organically produced vegetables. Organic fertilizer benefits the useful life of the soil, while chemical mineral fertilizers can reduce soil biota and shorten its useful life. Considering the early productive potential of UENF-14 lines, the objective of the research was to evaluate the performance of these popcorn lines for growing baby corn under organic management. The materials tested were: 14 lines of popcorn from the UENF-14 population, the experiments were conducted in the summer 2017/2018 and winter 2018 harvests in the experimental area of IFES, Campus de Alegre, located in the district of Rive - ES. The experimental design was randomized blocks with 15 treatments and four replications. The first harvests of the plots were carried out between three and five days after the issuance of stigma styles, for 30 days. After harvesting, the ears were placed in plastic bags, and refrigerators were placed for productivity and precocity analyses. The analyses were carried out in the Bromatological laboratory of the Federal Institute of Espirito Santo - Campus de Alegre. The analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the lines originating from the popcorn population UENF 14, for the productivity variable, with the coefficient of variation found to be 40.04%. The average test for the summer harvest showed that the productive lines for the summer were: L683, L685, L686, L689, L694 and L696, with productivity varying from 666.34 to 876.94 kg/hectare of baby corn. For winter, productivity ranged from 237.21 to 1016.96 kg/hectare of baby corn and among the 14 lines evaluated, only L685 achieved a significant average production. In the summer harvest, the best productivity results were obtained by the lines L683, L685, L686, L689, L694 and L696, while for the winter, only the L685 line showed good productivity results. For precocity, lines L2, L3, L4, L6, L8, L9, L12, L13 and L14 obtained better results for the summer harvest and lines L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L7, L9, 10, L11, L12 and L14 obtained better results for the winter harvest.