Morphological characterization of selected maize (zea mays l.) Inbred lines under acid soil conditions

Thirty inbred lines collected from Institute of the Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), IITA and CIMMYT were evaluated in four environments at the Bimodal Humid Forest Zone (BHFZ) of Cameroon under acid soil condition from 2012 to 2013. An environment was made of experimental site, agricultural campaign and year. The objectives of the study were to assess the genetic diversity of parental maize inbred lines and classify them based on their performance under acid soil. Morphological data were collected as describe in the Descriptor for maize. The local inbred lines had flint and indented kernel, with a yellow color. Most of them had primary –secondary tassel type with reddish color. All the lines were divided into two major groups. The first group was subdivided into three sub-groups containing the most susceptible lines, the susceptible lines and the moderately tolerant lines. The second major group was made of tolerant lines. The diversity among the lines was not too wide.