Racial diversity of maize in Brazil and adjacent areas

Abstract

The races of southern and eastern South America are described in several of the Races of Maize Bulletins, as well as in a pioneering work by Hugh Cutler. Basically, there appear to be eight essentially distinct types of maize that have contributed to the diversity that has been collected there. These include: (1) a wide assortment of commercial races and some of the more productive Indigenous races that can be subdivided into six subgroups: (a) the commercial dent and semi-dent races of Brazil, Caingang, Morotí, the Brazilian Catetos and Cristals; (b) the Cateto and Cristal Sulinos; (c) Cristalino and Dentado Comercial from Chile (d) Camelia, the lowland Bolivian Flints and Flours, and the Cateto Nortistas; (e) Canario de Ocho of Uruguay, Cateto Grande, and Moroti Precoce; (f) Tusón from Brazil. Many races of this group appear to be the most valuable for breeding programs. Seven other groups include: (2) Lenha, the Cravos, Cateto Sulino Grosso, and Choclero; (3) the introduced, commercial races, Argentino and Hickory King; (4) Cristalino Norteño, Canario de Ocho from Argentina, Dulce Golden Bantam, and Dulce Evergreen from Chile, all apparently related to U.S. Northern Flints such as Longfellow; (5) the races of the highlands of northwestern Argentina, including the Capias, Chulpi, Culli, Oke, Morocho and Harinoso Tarapaqueno from Chile; (6) Curagua and Curagua Grande from Chile; (7) Pororo and the Guaraní popcorns, Avatí Pichingá and Avatí Pichingá Ihú; (8) The interlocked races from the interior lowlands, Entrelaçado, Piricinco, and the Coroicos. Araucano from Chile and Cateto Sulino Precoce from Argentina do not show clear relationships to the other races studied. This report uses morphological data, geographic data, and isozyme-allele-frequency data to characterize the relationships among previously-described races of maize from the region. Allelic variation among and within races and racial groups is utilized to attempt to infer historical relationships among maize types throughout the region.