Genotype by environment interactions and agronomic performance of doubled haploids testcross maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids

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Date
2016Author
Sserumaga, Julius Pyton
Oikeh, Sylvester O.
Mugo, Stephen
Asea, Godfrey
Otim, Michael
Beyene, Yoseph
Abalo, Grace
Kikafunda, Joseph
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In vivo production of maternal haploid
plants and advancement in chromosome doubling
technology has led to rapid production of doubled
haploid homozygous lines. These in turn have boosted
rapid advancement in most breeding programs. This
has resulted in production of a large number of maize
hybrids which need testing across production environments
to select the most suitable hybrids for release
and cultivation. The objective of this study was to
assess the genotype 9 environment interactions (GE)
for grain yield and other agronomic traits and evaluate
the performance of 44 recently developed doubled
haploids (DH) testcross hybrids along with six checks
across five locations in Uganda. Significant mean
squares for environment (E), genotype (G) and GE
were observed for all studied traits. Environment
explained 46.5 % of the total variance, while G and
GE contributed 13.2 and 7.2 %, respectively. Genetic
correlations among locations were high (0.999),
suggesting little GE among environments. The 10
best testcross hybrids had a 49.2 %average grain yield
advantage over the six checks at all locations. DH
hybrids CKHDHH0887, CKDHH0878, CKDHH
0859, WM1210, CKDHH0858, and WM1214 were
the most stable, across locations. The DH testcross
hybrids produced higher grain yield and possessed
acceptable agronomic traits compared to the commercial
hybrids developed earlier. Use of the best DH
testcross hybrids, well targeted to the production
environments, could boost maize production among
farmers.
URI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-015-1549-2(0123456789().,-volV()0123456789().,-volV)https://nru.uncst.go.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/2202