Comparison of Open Pollinated Varieties and Newly Developed Hybrids for Yield and Yield Contributing Traits in Maize (Report‪)‬

Byline: Haq Nawaz Malik, Iffat Ara, Muhammad Naeem, Mozammil Hussain, M. Hanif Munawwar and M. Yousaf ABSTRACT: Eighteen hybrids and 13 open pollinated varieties of maize were evaluated at the National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad during kharif 2007. Significant differences were observed for days to 50% tasseling and silking, plant height, ear height, number of kernel rows per ear, number of grain per row, 100 grain weight, grain moisture and grain yield. The hybrids NT-6622 and NT- 6651 ranked top and second in grain yield by producing 7842 and 7759 kg ha -1 , respectively. Generally the hybrids produced more grain yield than the open polli- nated varieties. Days to 50% tasseling ranged from 47.33 (EV-1098) to 64 (NT- 6632) while for silking varied from 47.67 (EV-1098) to 63.33 (30-K-95). The variety Soan-3 (149 cm) was the shortest and hybrid 30-K-95 (202.3 cm) was the tallest amongst all the varieties and hybrids. Ear height ranged from 70.33 (Soan-3) to 107 cm (NT-6651) while number of kernel rows per ear varied from 12 (NT-6622, 30- K95, 2512 and 2514) to 18 (R-2207).