Analisis Keragaan Morfologi Populasi F4 Jagung Pelangi (Zea mays L.) Hasil Persilangan 3 Tetua pada Cekaman Kekeringan

Abstract

Corn (Zea mays L.) plays a strategic role in the national economy as it is an important food crop. Corn is a highly sensitive drought Stress and nutrient deficiencies. To select corn genotypes tolerant to drought stress, basic information on corn adaptation to drought stress is required so that the selection process can run efficiently and effectively. This study aims to analyze the morphological performance of the F4 rainbow corn population resulting from a cross between 3 parents at different watering intervals. This study was conducted in the Greenhouse of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of North Sumatra, at an altitude of ± 25 meters above sea level. This study used a non-factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 4 treatment levels, namely: Control (C0), 2 days without watering (C1), 4 days without watering (C2), 8 days without watering (C3). The results showed that the watering interval had a significant effect on plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, male flowering age, female flowering age, root volume, and root length. Morphological performance in plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, male flowering age, female flowering age, root length and root volume can be seen to decrease as the watering interval increases, with the smallest rate of decrease at the 2-day interval without watering.