Journal of Anthropology Reports

Abstract

Evaluation of Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L) Hybrids at Jimma, Western-Ethiopia

Aman J, Bantte K, Alamerew S and Tolera B*

Maize is an important food crop in Ethiopia. But its nutritional quality is poor as its seed protein is devoid of two essential amino acids (lysine and tryptophan). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of Quality Protein Maize (QPM) hybrids developed by CIMMYT. Forty three QPM hybrids and 2 checks were tested using 5X9 alpha lattice design with two replications. Data were subjected to ANOVA using SAS version 9.2. The ANOVA revealed very highly significant differences among the genotypes (p<0.001), for 50% tasseling, ear height, plant count and grain yield. High phenotypic variances were observed for ear height, number of rows/ear, number of grains/row and grain yield. The phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation were high for ear height, plant count, number of rows/ear, number of grains/row and grain yield. The maximum (0.91) and minimum (0.23) broad sense heritability’s were recorded for number of rows/ear and days to 50% tasseling respectively.