Malnutrition of micro -nutrients is aff ecting billions of people in the world. Developing countries are more vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies due to limited affordability because of low per capita income. Maize ( Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal and is used as source of food, feed, fodder and biofuel in addition to providing raw material for industrial products like corn oil, corn starch , glucose etc . This study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity in quality and yield contributing components under the normal enviro nmental conditions among 40 maize genotype s. Data for the traits like plant height, cob length, ear per plant, grain s per ear, grains per row, cob diameter, 100 grain weight, and iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium contents were recorded. Analysis of variance determined highly significant diversity among the genotypes for all traits except magnesium contents. This quality and yield based diversity provided a valuable source for developing high yielding and nutrient rich maize . Germplasm to overcome the issues of food security and malnutrition. The best performing genotypes with focus on both the issues could be used in different breeding programs to develop high yielding and micronutrient enriched hybrids/varieties.
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