Genetic insights on single cross maize hybrid and its importance on maize self-sufficiency in Nepal

Abstract

When the world's population rises, total crop production worldwide is not meeting rising food demand. Focus on developing high yielding single cross hybrids of maize that are resource-efficient under diverse soil and climatic conditions is utmost for countries like Nepal. With the aim of exploring genetic reasons for higher hybrid vigor of single cross hybrid of maize, global genetic importance and addressing the emerging issue of needed higher productivity in Nepal to achieve maize self-sufficiency status, comprehensive review work was performed. Research findings explored that; the Heterosis hypothesis has been widely exploited in crop breeding, resulting in a large increase in yield. The ability analysis is of special importance in cross-pollinated crops like maize as it helps in identifying potential parents that can be used for producing hybrids and synthetics. New molecular tools and techniques can complement traditional methods to allow breeders to tackle priority research areas efficiently. Nepal’s reliance on imported hybrid maize seed and grain increased each year as competitive hybrid cultivars became unavailable within the country. Recently, higher yield gap due to lower productivity, being the major concern in Nepal, single cross hybrids are intervention point. For the countries like Nepal, where achieving higher yield of maize to address self-sufficiency is the nationally prioritized issue, single cross hybrids of maize could be the best way to come up.