Heterosis and antioxidant compounds of sweet corn breeding lines and their F1 hybrid
In this research, the mid-parent heterosis and the levels of phenolic, flavonoids compounds and antioxidants activity among two selected sweet corn parental lines and their F1 hybrid Zaharina were evaluated. Substantial positive mid-parent heterosis (MPH) was found for parent-hybrid triplet for ear weight and for plant height. Among all other traits, insertion height had the greatest heterosis and ear diameter had the lowest. Negative mid-parent heterosis exhibited only the trait 1000-kernel weight. Data analysis indicated significant differences in the contents of total phenolic content, total flavonoids content, water-soluble antioxidant capacity, lipid-soluble antioxidant capacity, and antioxidant activity among parent-hybrid triplet. The results suggest that F1 hybrid Zaharina can be considered as good source of natural antioxidants since it extracts were found to possess high antioxidant activity.