Evaluation of Single Cross Hybrids of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Winter Season at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
Abstract
A study was conducted to identify high-yielding single-cross maize hybrids. A total of 26 single-cross maize hybrids along with four checks were evaluated at the research field of the National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, from November 2023 to May 2024. The experiment was laid out in an alpha-lattice design with two replications and six blocks per replication. Data for 14 agro-morphological and yield-related traits were recorded. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences in all traits, with heritability ranging from moderate (0.43-0.57) to high (0.64-0.87). ZH22668 (11.33 t ha⁻¹) was the highest-yielding hybrid, while ZH22741 (9.94 t ha⁻¹), ZH22712 (9.61 t ha⁻¹), ZH2182 (9.45 t ha⁻¹), ZH20379 (9.38 t ha⁻¹), and ZH22691 (9.37 t ha⁻¹) produced yields comparable to the commercial checks CP 808 (9.36 t ha⁻¹) and Sultan (9.33 t ha⁻¹). ZH22668, ZH22741, and ZH22712 showed a yield advantage of 2.62-21.04% over CP 808 and 26.38-49.11% over internal check CAH153. Therefore, ZH22668, ZH22741, and ZH22712 are promising hybrids for further evaluation in the inner-terai region of Nepal.
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Introduction
Maize (Zea mays L., 2n=2x=20) is a highly versatile and widely adaptable crop, recognized as one of the world'sleading cereals with diverse types. It is also known as "queen of cereals" as it has the highest productivity compared to other cereals (Das et al., 2018). It has a wider range of uses as a 4F crop, i.e., food, feed, fuel, fodder, and industrial raw materials (Shikha et al., 2020). Globally, maize ranks second among cereals in terms of area under cultivation, occupying approximately 208 million hectares, and first in total production, with an annual output of about 1,241 million tons, with average productivity of 5.96 t ha⁻¹ (FAOSTAT, 2023). In Nepal, maize occupies 0.94 million hectares of land with 2.97 million tons production and 3.16 t ha⁻¹ productivity, contributing 7.61% to the total national AGDP (MoALD, 2023).
Single-cross hybrids are the first filial generation (F₁) obtained from the crossing of two inbred lines (Makavu, 2018) and generally produce higher grain yield compared to double and triple cross hybrids. The National Maize Research Program (NMRP) focuses on maize breeding and hybrid development, having released ten maize hybrids to date (MoALD, 2023). Website: www.ijoear.com Journal DOI: 10.25125/agriculture-journal However, Nepal still imports substantial quantities of hybrid maize seed (3655.8 tons) and maize grain (435217.7 tons) annually (MoALD, 2023), indicating a need for developing competitive domestic hybrids.
Over the last 10 years, the demand for maize grain has increased by 5% annually (Adhikari et al., 2024), with the poultry feed industry alone requiring 391,538 tons of yellow maize annually (Koirala et al., 2020). Currently, domestic production fulfills only 25% of this demand. Hybrids are more responsive to irrigation and fertilizer, yielding 20-30% higher than open-pollinated varieties (Thapa et al., 2022). However, only 20% of Nepal'smaize area is covered by hybrids, with 75% still under open-pollinated varieties (Yadav et al., 2023).
Winter maize production in the Terai region and river basins offers potential for increasing national maize production. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate single-cross maize hybrids to identify high-yielding genotypes suitable for winter cultivation in the inner-terai region of Nepal.
Conclusion
The evaluated maize hybrids showed significant genetic variability in days to 50% anthesis and silking, anthesis-silking interval, plant and ear height, ear position, number of plants, number of ears, prolificacy, ear aspect, cob length, cob diameter, number of kernels per row, number of kernel rows per ear, thousand-kernel weight, and grain yield. Among studied hybrids ZH22668 showed significantly higher grain yield followed by ZH22741 and ZH22712 as compared to commercial checks CP Website: www.ijoear.com Journal DOI: 10.25125/agriculture-journal 808 and all these genotypes showed significantly higher grain yield compared to internal check CAH153. Genotype ZH22668 showed 21.07% yield advantage over CP-808. Genotypes ZH22668, ZH22741, and ZH22712 showed 49.11%, 30.78%, and 26.38% yield advantage over internal check CAH153 respectively. Overall, the results suggest that ZH22668, ZH22741, and ZH22712 are promising hybrids, showing positive yield advantages across all checks with desirable traits, making them suitable candidates for further testing in multi-season and multi-location trials.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT The researchers extend their sincere gratitude to the National Maize Research Program (NMRP) Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal, for furnishing the necessary research facilities and resources.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interest.