Drought Tolerance Evaluation of Maize Hybrids using Biplot Method

Drought stress is one of the most important a-biotic stresses influencing performance of crop plants. Therefore, the identification or the development of tolerant genotypes is of high importance for incorporating in maize production. So, in order to find the best drought tolerant hybrids, thirty eight maize hybrids were planted in two separate experiments with normal irrigation and water deficit at grain filling period using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Drought tolerance indices such as Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Mean Productivity (MP), Tolerance (TOL), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Harmonic Mean Productivity (HAR) and Stress Tolerance Index (STI) were used to evaluate susceptibility and tolerance of the hybrids. Hybrids No. 4, 8, 17 and 38 had higher grain yield over the mean of the two conditions. These hybrids located at part of high yield potential and low sensitivity to drought (i.e., in part with up component one and down component two) in biplot. According to YP (grain yield in normal irrigation condition) and YS (grain yield in water deficit condition), hybrid No. 8 (K74/2-2-1-3-1-1-1-1 x K3653/2) was the best hybrid and can be used in future breeding programs to develop commercial hybrid.