Maize (Zea mays L.), the second most important staple food crop after rice in Nepal and a major food crop in the hills. Out of total maize production area (8, 70, 401 ha) of Nepal, hill and high hill environments occupies 80.5 % (6, 84,990 ha.). The majority of hill farm families are suffering from protein malnutrition. Considering this problem present study was undertaken since 2004 summer season. QPM synthetics have nearly double the essential amino acids: lysine and tryptophan than the normal maize. This study conducted in the hills of Nepal in three years to determine performance stability of open pollinated QPM genotypes in comparison to open pollinated cultivars of normal maize (non-QPM). Replicated field experiments were conducted in 13 environments using selected 6 QPM genotypes. The normal maize included released and pre released cultivars (Manakamana-3, Rampur Composite, Sitala and Population 45 C10) and one local check (farmers_ variety). Stability and genotype superiority for grain yield showed that the highest yielding QPM genotype: S99 TLWQ-HG-AB in each year had significantly higher grain yield than the local check and higher or comparable yield to the improved check. Across years, QPM genotypes i.e. Corralejo S99 SIWQ, Celaya S91 SIWQ and S 99 TLYQ-B produced significantly higher grain yield than the local check. The findings of this study provide new information on stability of the open pollinated QPM genotypes tested. These cultivars are also adapted to other developing countries, and this information could be useful for international and national QPM improvement programs.

Conservation Agriculture Program|Global Maize Program

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INT0317|INT3018