Maize landraces management to avoid transgenic contamination, decreases yield and seed quality

ABSTRACT Producing high-quality seeds for agroecological agriculture is needed because the plants will be exposed to a diversity of environments and management practices. Sowing times and population densities can influence the quality of seeds produced by landraces. Further, seeds for agroecological cultivation must not be contaminated by transgenes. In this context, it is necessary to know the agronomic performance of landraces outside of the recommended growing period to avoid gene flow with transgenic cultivars. Thus, the objective of this work was to determine the germination rate, vigor and sanitary quality of seeds of maize genotypes cultivated in an agroecological system at different sowing times and densities. A split-split-plot design was used in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 growing seasons. The physiological quality evaluation was based on germination and vigor tests, and the sanitary quality was obtained by visually examining the seeds. The results showed a significant simple effect of genotype, sowing time and density, as well as double and triple interactions among factors for all evaluated traits. The most suitable time for sowing the corn landraces evaluated in an agroecological system in western Santa Catarina is September, when the seeds exhibited the highest percentage of germination and vigor and there was a lower incidence of pathogens. At this time, a density of 55,000 plants·ha–1 had the best result for germination. Late sowing was tested to avoid gene flow from transgenic varieties that usually are sown in September, but the results indicated penalties, such as a decrease in seed yield and quality.