Variability of seed traits of fertile and sterile variants of the maize hybrid combination ZP 434

Abstract

The introduction of sterile forms of parental inbreds in the production of hybrids maize seed has led to the improvement of production methods and to the facilitation of seed crop control. The aim of the present study was to compare utility values of the F1 generation between seeds produced by the use of standard inbreds and seeds produced from plants with cytoplasmic male sterility inherited maternally. Significant differences were detected in all observed traits compared to the version of the hybrid combination. The share of large seed fractions was higher in the fertile than in the sterile version, while the SR to SF ratio was uniform in the sterile version. The weight of 1000-seed was greater in the sterile form (325.7 g), while the first count and germination were equal amounting to 97.2 %. The first count (95.7 %) and germination (94.5 %) were also high in the fertile version.

Keywords

• sterility
• hybrid
• maize
• seed traits