Increasing Hybrid Corn Seed Production through Optimization of Population and Ratio of Male to Female Parents

Abstract

Attempts to increase seed yield of hybrid corn has been done, but the results have not been satisfactorily achieved. Researches should be done in various aspects such as row ratio of parents, planting density, optimum days to harvest and influence of climatic factors (sunlight and rainfall), season and agroecology. The aim of study are to obtain optimum plant population and rasio of male to female parents for increasing seed yield of hybrid corn and to study seed quality of Bima 3 and STJ-01 varieties. The seeds used in the research were parents of Bima 3 (Nei90008 line as female, Mr14 line as male) and STJ-01 (Bima 5 variety as female, Nei9008 line as male). The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with two factors and three replications (replications was nested in factor of parent ratio). The first factor was male to female parent ratio (1:4, 1:5 and 2:6) and the second factor was plant population (66 667 plants/ha, 83 333 plants/ha and 90 000 plants/ha). Combined analysis of variance was performed to understand the effects of both factors and their interactions. The results showed that plant population did not significantly affect plant height of Bima 3 and STJ-01 parents, ear height of Bima 3 and STJ-01 female parents, leaf area index of STJ-01 female parent, number of ear of Bima 3 female parent, ear weight of Bima 3, and seed yield of Bima3 and STJ-01. The effect of parents ratio was significant for seed yield of Bima 3 and STJ-01. The highest seed yield of Bima 3 variety was achieved at parent ratio 1: 5 (1.43 tons/ha) and the highest seed yield of STJ-01 was achieved at parent ratio 1:4 (3 tons/ha). Seed quality of Bima 3 variety was better than that of STJ-01. The seedling growth of Bima 3 was more simultaneous more tolerant to drought based on germination percentage and speed of germination and more tolerant to salinity based on the number of green leaves.