Maize Research for Stress Environments. Proceedings of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Maize Conference, 4; Harare (Zimbabwe); 28 Mar - 1 Apr 1994.

The Maize Physiology sub-program at CIMMYT has recently completed several sets of evaluations of progress from selection for tolerance to midJlate season drought. The results of 10 trials of 16 entries comparing cycles of selection (0, 1, 2, and 3) in the tropical late populations La Posta Sequia and Pool 26 are presented and discussed. Selections from CIMMYT populations DTPI and DTP2 and cycles 0 and 8 of Tuxpeiio Sequia were also included in the evaluations. Two aspects of selection are considered. 1. Improvement with selection for grain yield and changes in other traits (e.g. anthesis silking interval, and yield components); in La Posta and Pool 26 yield gains of 200 kg ha-l cycle-l were observed under drought and of >100 kg ha-l cycle-l under irrigation. 2. AMMI and cluster analysis of the GxE interactions for grain yield across environments; yield stability increased, and it was found that selection solely in either a drought or irrigated environment was unlikely to improve performance in the other environment. Divergent synthetics made from various cycles of La Posta Sequia for secondary selection traits have been tested in trials with 40 entries, at 3 irrigation levels. Results from these trials are presented to illustrate the value of secondary traits in selection for drought tolerance.

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AGRIS 9602|MP|R95PROCE

INT1888

CIMMYT Publications Collection