Three-way cross white kernel hybrid maize out-yielded commercial variety tested under two contrasting environments

Abstract

Despite the souring demand in the poultry industry, a larger proportion of the population in mid-hills is still dependent on maize as a staple food. Maize kernel color has a great influence on its end use; yellow is preferred for poultry feeds, and white for human consumption. The popular white kernel improved maize has a low yield potential and the majority of high yielding hybrids have yellow kernels. Considering these facts, we evaluated twenty maize genotypes, including 19 three-way cross white kernel hybrid maize (CIMMYT hybrids) and one commercial hybrid (RMH4642- Indian origin), in an alpha lattice design with two replications during the winter and summer seasons of 2017 and 2018 respectively. The main objective was to identify high potential white kernel hybrid maize with consistent performance in both the summer and winter seasons. In this study, we evaluated genotypes based on grain yield, disease resistance, and consistency in contrasting environments. The majority of the tested three-way cross hybrid genotypes out-yielded commercial checks in both seasons. The yielding potential of the top hybrids ranged from 7.89 to 9.76 t ha −1 across seasons. CLTHW16173, CLTHW16037, CLTHW16032, and CLTHW16012 were identified as stalk rot resistant genotypes with a disease incidence of less than 10%. AMMI (Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction) analysis revealed that genotypes CLTHW16116, CLTHW16003, CLTHW16037, and CLTHW16009 showed consistent performance with higher average grain yield across the seasons. These outstanding hybrids need to be tested in farmers’ fields at different agro-ecologies under varied growing seasons to validate their performance. • Maize Kernel color influences the end use; yellow for livestock feeds and white for human consumption. • White kernel improved varieties are low potential and majority of high potential hybrids has yellow kernel. • Three way cross white kernel maize out-performed commercial hybrid variety in both the seasons and top genotypes yielded within the range of 7.89–9.76 t ha −1 . • CLTHW16116, CLTHW16003, CLTHW16037, and CLTHW16009 yielded consistently with higher average across the seasons.