Morphological and phenological evaluation of maize hybrid germplasm lines for drought tolerance under receding soil moisture conditions

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi 2015-16 in a Randomized block design (RBD) having three replications to screen 12 hybrid maize germplasm lines viz; Z630-1, Z630-2, Z630-3, Z630-4, Z637-1, Z637-2, Z695-1, Z695-2, Z695-3, Z638-1, Z638-2, Z638-3 along with checks NK6240, P1O3396, 900MGold. The study was carried out to screen the hybrid germplasm lines exposed to drought during the reproductive growth stage. The results showed that the germplasm lines exhibit a substantiate variation among themselves. In the present study morphological and phenological traits are considered to screen the hybrids. The water stress imposition in maize hybrid germplasm lines reduced yield by 50% less to the optimum moisture conditions. The reduced yield due to the moisture stressed conditions can be attributed to the changes that occur in the morphological and phenological traits affecting the growth and development of the hybrids. A single germplasm line Z695-3 was observed to be out performing the remaining germplasm lines with higher yield potential among the lines and have recorded the optimum values of the traits measured at different growth stages.