A high yielding hybrid maize with many features have been developed by breeders at the Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University(TNAU), Coimbatore. The hybrid has been recently released for commercial cultivation as ‘COH(M)4’ is a three way cross maize hybrid and it matures in 94 days. It has been found suitable for cultivation both under rainfed and irrigated conditions. The hybrid is moderately resistant to downy mildew disease and stem borer attack. It possesses desirable attributes such as high starch(70.90%) and high fat(5.08%) than the variety COH 3. The new hybrid yielded bold grains with deep yellow colour and flint in texture. The cobs are fully covered with husk and the percentage of seed set is very high. It proved its superiority over the composite Co1 and hybrid CoH3 in a total of 95 adaptive research trails, 10 multi-location trials, 22 station trials and 22 All India trials. Under irrigated conditions COH(M)4 recorded a mean grain yield of 5694 kg per hectare, which was 23% more than that of the ruling hybrid CoH 3 (4628 kg per hectare). The yield was 40% higher than that of the composite Co1, which recorded 4053 kg per hectare. Under rainfed conditions, it recorded a grain yield of 4521 kg per hectare, which was 12% more than that of CoH 3(4055 kg per hectare), and 20% higher than that of Co1(3771 kg per hectare). The hybrid has a potential yield of 11,422 kg grain and 19 tonnes of fodder per hectare. Under irrigated conditions COH(M)4 recorded a mean grain yield of 5694 kg per hectare, which was 23% more than that of the ruling hybrid CoH 3 (4628 kg per hectare). The yield was 40% higher than that of the composite Co1, which recorded 4053 kg per hectare. Under rainfed conditions, it recorded a grain yield of 4521 kg per hectare, which was 12% more than that of CoH 3(4055 kg per hectare), and 20% higher than that of Co1(3771 kg per hectare). The hybrid has a potential yield of 11,422 kg grain and 19 tonnes of fodder per hectare. A seed rate of 15 kg per hectare is recommended when only one seed is used per hole. An espacement of 60 cm between the rows and 15 cm within a row is to be followed. The hybrid responds well to nutrient management. The irrigated crop should be given 25 tonnes of farmyard manure and 45kg nitrogen, 62 kg phosphorus and 25 kg potash as basal dressing. The irrigated crop should be given at least seven round’s of irrigation at critical stages of crop growth to raise a healthy crop with good yield. (Courtesy-The Hindu) |
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