Early growth cover and Chlorophyll measurements
Early growth cover (Table 4 and Sup Fig .4) of the white commercial cultivar and 53-3-B was low as compared to other lines (such as 53-1-W) at 33 DAS. 53-1-B and 53-2-B exhibited the highest values of EGC.
Leaf chlorophyll content was measured at 42 DAS (a, b, and total Chl). Both the commercial white cultivar and pure brown 44A-163-B line had a very similar midrange value (Table 5). Both 53-3-B and 53-1-B contained the highest Chl (b, and total Chl) among the evaluated lines. Whereas 53-2-B exhibited the opposite patterns in terms of Chl levels. Interestingly, all three brown lines presented a low Chla/Chlb ratio.