Correlation Analysis Between Maize Grain Moisture Content and Ear Related Traits at Harvest Stage

In order to effectively evaluate the grain moisture content at harvest time, and explore important traits that can be used for direct selection, two pairs of early and super-early maturing hybrids and their parental inbred lines of maize with significant difference in grain moisture content at harvest were used in this study.The relationship between the grain moisture at harvest and the traits related to husk, ear stem, ear and grain were investigated by contrastive analysis.The results showed that, compared to the hybrids（Keyu 17 and Zhedan 37）with high grain moisture content at harvest, Demeiya 2 and Demeiya 3 had the faster husk dehydration rate, less, shorter and looser husk, stronger pulling resistance of ear stem, less row number per ear and grains per row and shorter ear length.There was negative correlation between the grain moisture content at harvest（GMC） and the dehydration rate and tightness of husk, the extremely significant positive correlation between GMC and husk length, and the significant positive correlation between GMC and row number per ear, grain length, grains per row, and ear length.The genetic effects from the two parents were existed simultaneously in the above traits and should be considered both in selection.