Yield and Disease Reactions of Quality Protein Maize Varieties in the Southern Guinea Savanna Agro-Ecology of Nigeria

Experiments were conducted on six newly developed quality protein maize (QPM) lines and two check entries for three years (2009-2011). The objective was to assess their yield potentials and disease tolerance/ resistance in the southern Guinea savanna agro-ecology of Nigeria. Genotype and year of evaluation were significant for (P<0.01 and <0.05) for grain yield, harvest moisture and lodging characteristics. Variety x year interactive effect for grain yield revealed different genotypic performance of the varieties tested with two checks (Oba-Super 1 and DMR-LSR-Y) being responsible for the significant differences obtained in the three years of evaluation. Average grain yield was significantly higher in the year 2011 compared to 2009 and 2010. All the genotypes tested were moderately tolerant to the five diseases. Four QPM lines (ART98-SW5-OB, ART98-SW4-OB, TZPB-OB and ART98-SW6-OB) were superior for grain yield with yield advantage of 28% over the best OPV check. They were also compared favourably with the hybrid check for grain yield. These QPM varieties can therefore serve as useful replacement to existing cultivars and also as source of genes for future maize breeding activities in the development of superior maize varieties with high protein contents for the savanna agro-ecology. This could also be a panacea to solving food insecurity in Nigeria.