Heterosis in early maturing high yielding quality protein maize (Zea mays) hybrids

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken in F1 population of 14 crosses, obtained by crossing 7 inbred lines of maize with two diverse testers in line x tester mating design during Rabi 2016. The 14 hybrids along with 9 parents (7 lines x 2 testers) and standard check were evaluated in Randomised Block Design with three replications at Field Experimentation Centre of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Naini Agricultural Institute, Allahabad (U.P) during the year kharif 2017. Crosses L4 X T1 and L4 X T2 exhibited maximum negatively significant economic heterosis for days to maturity followed by L2 X T2 and L2 XT1. The crosses L7 X T1, L7 X T2 and L4 X T1 exhibited significant positive standard heterosis over the check for yield and other attributes in maize.