Grain yield performance and flowering synchrony of CIMMYT’s tropical maize (Zea mays L.) parental inbred lines and single crosses
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Euphytica
Abstract
Maize production constraints in sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) are being addressed by CIMMYT
and partners through an array of projects, focusing on
developing and evaluating parental inbred lines and
single-crosses as well as formulating, evaluating and
releasing high-yielding and stress resilient hybrids
adapted to different agro-ecologies. The objectives of
the present study were to (1) evaluate the grain yield
performance of parental elite inbred lines developed
over the years, and single crosses; and (2) ascertain the
flowering synchrony among inbred lines and singlecross
hybrid parents. Parental inbred lines and singlecrosses
were evaluated at seven locations in two
countries in 2014. Combined analysis of variance
revealed differences (P\0.01) among genotypes for
grain yield (GY) and among different years/era of
release of the inbred lines. The improvement in GY of
inbred lines was estimated to be 1.4 %per year. Under
irrigated conditions GY of some single-cross hybrids
was over 16 t ha-1. Some single-cross and inbred line
parents showed acceptable flowering synchrony, good
producibility, and stable performance across testing
environments, suggesting that these have high potential
for seed production. Further research is needed to
determine the physiological and morphological characteristics
that contributed to the GY improvement in
the parental inbred lines. Information generated from
this study will enhance the use of CIMMYT’s tropical
mid-altitude parental germplasm by breeders working
in both private and public breeding programs for
developing and deploying high-yielding maize
hybrids for the benefit of small-scale farmers in SSA.
Description
Keywords
Flowering synchrony, Inbred lines, Maize, Single cross hybrids, Three-way cross hybrids
Citation
Worku, M., Makumbi, D., Beyene, Y., Das, B., Mugo, S., Pixley, K., ... & Prasanna, B. M. (2016). Grain yield performance and flowering synchrony of CIMMYT’s tropical maize (Zea mays L.) parental inbred lines and single crosses. Euphytica, 211(3), 395-409. DOI 10.1007/s10681-016-1758-3