Pál Pepó

Macro- and microelement contents of blue and red kernel corns

The role of special corns in human diets is increasing as a result of their favourable nutritional values. Little is known about mineral contents of different red and blue corns, although they may help to inhibit deficiency diseases mainly in the developing countries. During this study, mineral contents (15 elements) of 3 red and 9 blue corn varieties were examined with ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Highest contents of macroelements were as follows: P (3859.5±562.1 mg kg −1 ), K (4325.0±469.5 mg kg −1 ) and Mg (1450.0±104.6 mg kg −1 ) in the variety Black Mexican, S (1555.0±128.6 mg kg −1 ) in Santo Domingo Blue. In case of microelements, iron, zinc and selenium were highlighted. Except one genotype, iron contents were above 30 mg kg −1 . Blaumais, Hopi Turquoise and Hopi Blue contained more than 40 mg kg −1 (41.0–46.3), which were above values published in the literature (10.0 mg kg −1 in average). For zinc, we measured 15.2–31.5 mg kg −1 . Selenium contents (0.1–0.2 mg kg −1 ) were also higher than in the literat...

Selection of winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L. ) cultivars meeting complex EU quality requirements

Lines of our wheat program show wide genetic variability in the case of quality parameters. A lot of them have pharinographic quality and Hagberg’s falling number that can be categorised as A1–A2. Nowadays alveographic quality studies are more and more widespread. Our data show that HP Pusztaszel meets the modern quality requirements; it has the best quality exceeding the other cultivars in all the examined traits. Our lines can form the base of quality improvement and stability in sustainable wheat production. According to the obtained quality data we can conclude that HP Pusztaszel meets quality requirements of EU.

The role of nitrogen and phosphorous source in Miscanthus in vitro cultures.

The large biomass production and the low necessary input fertilizer make Miscanthus an interesting, potential non-food crops with broad applications, e.g. for fuel and energy, for thatching, fibre production, for the paper and car industries, as well as for ethanol production.Axillary buds of Miscanthus x giganteus were placed on a shoot inducing nutrient solution (modified Murashige and Skoog, 1962) basic medium supplemented with 0,3 mg l −1 6-Benzylaminopurin). After 40 days of culturing the axillary buds produced three times more shoots than could normally be harvested. The nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) was measured several times during culturing. The results showed that after 35 days, nitrogen and phosphorous was nearly completely taken up. From that time, shoot growth was not observed.After the shoot propagation the plants were transferred into a nutrient solution for root formation basic medium (modified Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with 0,5 mg l −1 IBA (Indol-3-Butyric Acid), and co...

Nutrient Uptake of Miscanthus In Vitro Cultures

Abstract The large biomass production and the low input of fertilizer needed make Miscanthus an interesting potential non-food crop with broad applications, e.g., as fuel and energy, thatching, as fiber for production in the paper and car industry as well as ethanol production. Axillary buds of Miscanthus × giganteus were placed on a shoot inducing nutrient solution (modified Murashige and Skoog, 1962) basic medium supplemented with 0.3 mg l−1 6-Benzylaminopurin. After 40 days of culturing the axillary buds, three times more shoots could be harvested. The nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) was determined several times during the culturing. The results showed that after 35 days, nitrogen and phosphate were almost completely taken up and thereafter no shoot growth was observed. After the shoot propagation the plants were transferred into a nutrient solution for root formation and could be potted in soil, after about 14 days.

Morphology of Tassel Components and Their Relationship to Some Quantitative Features in Maize

Discovering the relationships among plant morphological and quantitative features is very important in maize breeding and production, particularly if they can be altered by selection or agro-technical methods. We examined tassel characteristics (tassel weight, tassel stalk diameter, number of primary branches, total length of branches, tassel length from lower and upper branches, Tassel Area Index) and several quantitative features (plant height, ear height, LAI, number of leaf, yield, 1000-kernel weight, test weight) of 12 hybrids in randomized block design during two subsequent years on two locations. Our aim was to find correlation between traits. Tassel weight was positively correlated with total number of branches (0.59**), number of primary branches (0.53**) and tassel area index (0.63**), and negatively correlated with plant height (−0.45**) and yield (−0.39**). Tassel area index was negatively correlated with plant height (−0.63**) and yield (−0.55**), as were number of branches and Leaf Area Index (0.39**). Number of primary branches showed medium correlation with plant height (−0.43**). Test weight correlated negatively with plant height, ear height, yield, leaf area index (LAI) and 1000-kernel weight. Because a number of these traits are highly heritable, these correlations could be used as a basis for indirect selection of special features in maize breeding programs.

Investigation of maize hybrids based on direct and reciprocal crosses

Introduction In maize selection, it is of great importance to know the performance and combining ability of crossing partners. It is also relevant in seed production and basic research to study differences between single and reciprocal crosses. A few Hungarian literature references draw attention to this field (Berzy et al., 2005). Kovacs (1963) investigated direct and reciprocal single crosses derived from Martonvasar lines and found no difference between the productivity of the two hybrids. Transposition of parents can be accounted by the fact that the cytoplasm of certain lines does not take part equally in the development of agronomical features. With the transposition of parents, more economical seed production can be obtained (Nagy, 1982). Nagy (1985) examined leaf number, ear height, ear length, cob weight, kernel line number, ear weight, kernel weight, 500 kernel weight, shelling % and oil content in 14 early SC hybrids and their reciprocal variety. In one quarter of compared data pairs, significant difference was found at P≥5%. Hegyi (2001) studied protein and oil contents of 12 direct and 12 reciprocal hybrids and found no heterosis coupled to parental average. In 10 cases there was significant difference in protein content, while no statistical difference was found in oil content between direct and reciprocal hybrids. Plant height and height of main ear were examined by several authors (Gyenesne Hegyi et al., 2002, 2005a, b; Zsubori et al., 2001) and they concluded that one of the most important phenomena was the close relation of trait pairs to other characteristics. Khehra and Bhalla (1976) crossed 10 genetically different maize lines among them reciprocals. They observed larger difference in point of reciprocal effect in early x late variety combinations rather than in early x early or late x late ones. According to Pollmer et al. (1978) it is hard to utilize the commercial value due to instability and low magnitude of reciprocal differences, however in their studies they showed difference in almost all traits. This information is important during the prediction of breeding basic material. We can obtain a few data from the literature about tassel characteristics in direct and reciprocal crosses.

Preliminary data of chemical contents and thousand kernel weight in special and conventional maize

The cultivation of specialty maize has an important role in the world agriculture. The food processors demand maize with increased yields and quality to improve product attributes. Some unique types such as blue corn are becoming increasingly popular in specialty food stores (Rooney and Serna-Saldivar, 2003). The analysis of maize grain yields is extremely important for both animal feeding and human nutrition, with the latter coming more and more to the foreground (Gy6ri et al., 2005). Some authors studied chemical composition in specialty colour maize (Dickerson, 2003; Kovdcs, 2000; B6di and Pep6, 2006). The most important characteristics of the yield components are the number of ears per plant and the thousand-kernel weight (Hegyi et al., 2005). The objective of this study was to determine (i) some chemical parameters of various special colour and conventional (yellow) maize, (ii) trends in the thousand kernel weight of their maize in our breeding program.

Heterosis and interrelationship study on the values of the maize Kernel’s major ingredients and its thousand weight

Five inbreds (UDL1, UDL4, UDL5, UDL6, 126) from our preliminary maize improvement program for increased starch content and some of their hybrids were grown in 2008 at the field of Horticultural Institute, Debrecen University. Three chemical parameters (starch-, protein-, oil content) and the weighing of one physical trait (thousand-kernel weight) were analyzed. The starch content varied from 64.29–70.80% in lines and from 70.84–72.29% in case of hybrids. Protein content in the dry material was between 9.04–12.62% in case of the parent lines and it was 7.61–9.56% in the single cross hybrids. Strong negative correlation (r = −0.834**) was found between starch and protein content of the examined hybrids. The oil content varied from 2.70–3.64% and 2.87–3.39% in lines and hybrids, respectively. The thousand-kernel weight (TKW) varied between 213.6–341.3 g in case of the lines and it was 314.3-426.3 g in hybrids. Significant differences were found among hybrids in TKW (SD5% = 34.66%). Heterosis was experienced in the starch content of UDH6 hybrid. Both the relative and absolute values of heterosis for starch content and kernel weight were positive for each single cross hybrid.