Evaluation of Maize Hybrids for Maturity and Related Traits
Evaluation of Maize Hybrids for Maturity and Related Traits
Zabih Ullah*, H. Rahman and Niaz Muhammad
ABSTRACT
Low production of maize in Pakistan is mainly due to the unavailability of high yielding and early maturing varieties and hybrids. Earliness in maize is highly desirable as it allows plants to escape various biotic and abiotic stresses. It also makes multiple cropping possible as the land becomes available for next crop. Keeping the importance of early maturity of maize crop in view, the present study was conducted to evaluate different maize hybrids for maturity and related traits in the geographical location of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The experiment was conducted at The University of Agriculture, Peshawar during the cropping season of 2016. Randomized complete block design was used, having two replications and 35 genotypes, comprised of 33 hybrids and two local checks. Data were recorded on days to 50% tasseling, days to 50% anthesis, days to 50% silking, anthesis silking interval, plant height and ear eight. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for all the traits except anthesis silking interval that exhibited non-significant difference among the tested genotypes. Moderate to high broad sense heritability were observed for all the traits. Hybrid, HP1097-21 showed minimum days to tasseling, anthesis, and silking (70.5, 73.0, and 76.5, respectively) and hence proved to be the earliest maturing hybrid. It also had desirable plant and ear height of 148.80 cm and 70.00 cm, respectively. The present study revealed considerable amount of variation among the tested hybrids that may be exploited in future breeding programs for developing early maturing maize hybrids accompanied with other desirable attributes.
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