Characterization of mature maize (Zea mays L.) root system architecture and complexity in a diverse set of Ex-PVP inbreds and hybrids

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Table 5 Least square means of experimental F₁ hybrids with the highest and lowest performance for fractal estimated root complexity

Hybrid	Cross^a	FD	FA	RA	SD
Highest fractal dimension
B73 × PHG84	SN	1.849	110,055	69.8	133.2
B73 × PHG39	SS	1.842	89,725	65.7	136.4
B73 × PHZ51	SN	1.841	104,597	69.1	129.2
MO17 × PHG39	NS	1.835	103,815	81.1	130.1
PHG39 × PHZ51	SN	1.835	108,746	83.2	120.2
Lowest fractal dimension
LH1 × PHJ40	SS	1.731	58,682	72.8	94.8
LH82 × PHJ40	NS	1.756	64,301	69.4	98.7
LH1 × PHG47	SN	1.762	76,099	81.8	117.3
LH82 × PHG47	NN	1.765	75,018	76.7	100.6
PHG35 × PHJ40	NS	1.768	67,873	69.6	94.9
Widest root angle
LH1 × PHZ51	SN	1.786	91,661	89.1	118.7
PHG47 × PHZ51	NN	1.779	90,545	88.5	118.0
LH1 × LH123HT	SN	1.786	86,378	86.4	109.4
PHG47 × PHG84	NN	1.806	103,906	85.7	98.8
LH82 × PHZ51	NN	1.773	87,003	84.7	106.5
Most narrow root angle
LH82 × PH207	NN	1.775	74,606	62.9	122.2
B73 × PHG35	SN	1.813	86,539	61.8	126.1
B73 × PHJ40	SS	1.800	70,524	60.7	117.7
PH207 × PHJ40	NS	1.782	71,989	57.9	118.6
B73 × PH207	SN	1.785	76,911	53.3	131.8
Standard error of L.S. means		±0.010	±4,782	±3.0	±9.9
F₁ mean		1.795	85,265	74.2	118.8

FD fractal dimension, FA fractal abundance, RA root angle and SD stalk diameter.
^aCross indicates whether the hybrid is an intra-pool or an inter-pool cross, parental inbreds are coded as S, Stiff stalk synthetic, N Non-stiff stalk