Heterosis in maize hybrids at farmer’s field in Dang district of Nepal

Two field experiments were conducted at farmer field, Bangaun, Dang, Nepal during summer season from 18th May to 21st September 2018 to estimate magnitude of heterosis on maize hybrids. Five maize hybrids along with their eight parent lines and two standard check varieties (hybrids) were tested in randomized complete block design with three replications. The results revealed that all maize hybrids showed the significant positive heterosis over mid parents and better parent for grain yield. High level of heterosis was found for grain yield followed by plant height. The hybrids namely RH10 and RML86/RML96 produced the highest significant mid parent heterosis and heterobeltiosis for grain yield. The hybrids namely RH10 and RH6 produced the high positive heterosis over both check varieties (Rajkumar and Subarna) for grain yield. Hybrid RH10 gave the highest standard heterosis (39.39%) for grain yield over Rajkumar; followed by RH6 (38.45%) and RML86/RML (22.48%), respectively. The hybrid RH6 produced the highest standard heterosis (20.32%) for grain yield over Subarna followed by RH10 (17.23%). Mid and better parent heterosis were significantly higher for yield and yield attributes namely cob length, cob diameter, number of kernel row per cob, and number of kernel per row. The highest positive mid parent heterosis for grain yield was found in RML96/RML86 (466.91%) followed by RH10, RH8, and RH4. For the grain yield the heterobeltiosis was found to be highest in RH10 followed by RML96/RML96. These results suggested that maize production can be maximized by cultivating hybrids namely RH10 and RML96//RML86. Their parent lines could be selected for hybrid maize seed production program.