The Rediscovery of Traditional Maize Agrobiodiversity: A Study Case from Northern Italy

Nowadays, agriculture is under the pressure of climate change and new pathogen outbreaks while farmers are requiring breeders to develop more resistant and resilient genotypes. The\r\ngenetic base for breeding may be increased through appropriate conservation, description and characterization of local varieties and germplasm collections that have never been used in breeding, and\r\nwhich could be sources of useful alleles. In this framework, the present paper focuses on eight maize\r\nlandraces of the eastern part of Emilia-Romagna, derived from the Italian maize collection sampled\r\nin 1954. Landraces are characterized by a short cycle length and different kernel types—mainly\r\nflint-like or an intermediate type of yellow or yellow–orange color—while dent landraces are less\r\nrepresented. Pigmented and white corns are absent even though one landrace (Va213) showed the\r\npresence of scattered blue kernels on yellow ears. Ear shape is frequently conical, a trait associated\r\nwith drought-resistance and common in Italian traditional landraces. Genetic characterization was\r\ncarried out on 529 individuals by using 10 SSR markers. A total of 68 different alleles, ranging from\r\n4 for markers (phi084 and umc1401) to 11 (phi031) and from 27 (Va217) to 50 (Va211), were evidenced\r\nat the individual and population level. AMOVA analysis revealed a small amount (19%) of variability\r\nbetween populations, as supported also by PCoA, with the only exception of Va217, which is different\r\nfrom the others, as evidenced also by phylogenetic analysis. Population structure analysis resulted in\r\nthe identification of three and four population levels, which are consistent with previous results.