ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanistic Insights and Genetic Basis of Drought Tolerance in New Maize HybridsView all articles
Stress resilient maize hybrids with stable agronomic performance: a pursuit to strengthen sustainable maize production in India
Provisionally accepted
Ramesh Kumar1*
Yathish Rangappa Kondajji1
ABHIJIT DAS1Sushil Kumar1Yashmeet Kaur1Kamlesh Kumar1Jayasudha S2Chikkappa Gangadhar Karjagi1Manish B Patel3Sunil Karad4BS Jat1
P H Zaidi5Hanuman Sahay Jat1- 1ICAR - Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana, India
- 2Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
- 3Anand Agricultural University, Anand, India
- 4Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, India
- 5CIMMYT India, New Delhi, India
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Genotype by environment (G×E) interactions are of great interest for breeders to identify test locations and adapted genotypes. In the present study, 20 sub-tropical maize hybrids along with 5 commercial checks were planted at different locations under different ecologies (drought, high temperature, water logging and optimum environments) and evaluated for grain yield through the Best Linear Unbiased Estimations (BLUEs) and the Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (BLUPs). Genotypic and phenotypic correlations were also obtained among the different locations within the diverse ecologies. The trials were conducted during winter 2023 under drought, Spring 2024 under high temperature stress and under water logging during rainy 2023, respectively. The Genotype main effect plus genotype x environment interaction (GGE) biplot indicated that first and second principal components (PC1 and PC2) explained 100% of variation in drought, heat stress, water logging conditions. Under optimal conditions, it explained 75.81% variation. As per BLUE and BLUP, DKC 9144 and BH 417177 under drought, RCRMH 20 was under heat stress and BH 417144 under waterlogging were the best. Dendrogram was generated using Ward’s method of cluster analysis. Genotype RCRMH 20 was identified as the best performing genotype under heat (at locations Begusarai, Godhra and Kolhapur) and at water logging (Ludhiana, Hyderabad and Varanasi) with mean yield of 60.07 q/ha and 50.52 q/ha respectively. Based on these results it is recommended that hybrids namely MFH 2265, BH 417144, RCRMH 20 and BH 417177 may be tested in larger plot size before recommendation for release for commercial cultivation based on their performance in respective zones.
Keywords: mixed models, Blue, BLUP, Correlation, grain yield, Principal Component Analysis, Maize
Received: 27 Sep 2025; Accepted: 29 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kumar, Kondajji, DAS, Kumar, Kaur, Kumar, S, Karjagi, Patel, Karad, Jat, Zaidi and Jat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ramesh Kumar, rk.phagna@gmail.com
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