Vol.5 : Number 6
Breeding hybrids and inbreds for temperature tolerance in maize

Author(s): VP Mani, RS Khandelwal, GS Bist, KS Koranga


The important breeding objective in any crop plants is to improve grain yield potential and stability of the cultivars including

in maize. Stability of performance becomes more important if crop is grown in less favorable environments. Tolerance to

abiotic stresses is in general and drought through cold and heat tolerance in particular is essential in crop plants, as plant

cannot alter an environmental stress external to itself. The effect and mechanism of all the three types of temperature stresses

vary with respect to survival, growth and development and physiological processes. So during planning of crop improvement

in open pollinated crops like maize for temperature tolerance through development of inbred and hybrids one must keep in

mind regarding mechanism of temperature tolerance. The improvements in vegetative growth and yield performance of any

of these crops will require selection of inbreds for hybrid development that have more efficient growth habits under

unfavourable stresses conditions.

Key Words: Drought, Hybrids, Inbreds, Maize, Resistance, Tolerance


Country: India