Abstract

ARELLANO VAZQUEZ, José Luis; VIRGEN VARGAS, Juan; ROJAS MARTINEZ, Israel  and  AVILA PERCHES, Miguel Angel. H-70: high yield maize hybrid for rainfed and irrigated of the central Highlands of Mexico. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.4, pp.619-626. ISSN 2007-0934.

The genetic improvement of maize in Valles Altos, has allowed the development of hybrids with high yield, low bearing and resistance to lodging disease in the past decade; which have been products of the parent lines combination of Valles Altos of INIFAP and CIMMYT (Arellano et al., 1997). H-70 resulted from that combination as a trilinear hybrid, with white grains and semi-crystalline texture, with favorable adaptation to elevations of 2 200 to 2 600 m, intermediate maturity, as it achieves male flowering or tasseling at 100 days and female or silking at 102 days, on average. Presents plant height of 2.4 m and cob height of 1.4 m. It is resistant to lodging disease and plant and cob diseases. Yield fluctuates from 4 to 13.3 t ha^-1, under a density of 65 000 plants ha^-1. The cob has an average length of 16 cm, with 18 rows and 34 grains per row. Cob weight is 180 g and the grain/cob ratio is 86%. The average weight of 100 grains is 43.3 g. Harvesting can be done at 180 days, with a grain moisture content of 25 to 26%, so the cob must undergo a drying process to reduce moisture down to 14%. If the producer does not have a dry storage, he can harvest at 210 days with a grain moisture content of 18% to 19% and continue with the natural cob drying. The yields obtained with H-70 exceeded in 13% the yield of commercial hybrids. The genetic constitution of this hybrid allows it to positively thrive at different rainfall levels and planting in areas with rainfall delay until May 15^th. Its plant bearing provides intensive planting with 70 000 plants ha^-1 for grain production and it has potential for forage production in irrigated areas and a good rainfall. The main economic impact of H-70 is the difference of 3 and 7 t ha^-1 over the yield of native seeds, representing 7 to 14 thousand pesos per hectare. This increase makes proftable the maize production.

Keywords : Zea mays L.; semi-crystalline white grain; trilinear hybrid; intermediate type maturity.

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