Drought constitutes one of the most important factors limiting maize production in the semi-arid zone of West and Central Africa. Using tied and untied ridges to simulate differing moisture conditions, an early maturing maize population, Pool 16 DT, has undergone eight cycles of selection for drought tolerance. Twelve drought-tolerant early maturing maize varieties have been extracted from this population since 1982 and been made available to national programs in West and Central Africa. To determine progress in breeding for drought tolerance, the varieties extracted from the population were evaluated under non-stress and droughted conditions. The best drought tolerant variety had a yield comparable to the best drought susceptible variety under non-stressed conditions. Correlations between grain yield, anthesis-silking interval (ASI) and ears plant-1 under non-stress conditions were not significant. Under drought stress, however, grain yield and ears plant-1 were positively correlated (r = 0.67**), and grain yield and ASI were negatively correlated (r = -0.28*). When evaluated under drought stress, differences were detected among varieties for grain yield, ASI, and ears plant-1 with several drought tolerant varieties from advanced cycles of Pool 16 DT showing superior performance.

English

9802|AGRIS 9702

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection