Performance Evaluation and Identification of New Quality Protein Maize Inbred Lines

Background: Maize plays a critical role in meeting high food demand. It is a globally widely adopted and cultivated crop. Hybrid and open-pollinated varieties development from fixed inbred lines is one of the strategies for the improvement of maize production. Compared with the world average, the national average maize yield is low in Ethiopia. According to this development and selection of promising germplasm has indispensable value for developing high-yielding maize varieties. The study consists of 21Quality Protein Maize (QPM) lines, two QPM testers lines, and one Conventional Maize (CM) line check (FS67). They were evaluated in RCBD with two replications at Ambo and Arsi-Negele. The objective was to identify new lines with good performance compared with released QPM checks and CM lines. Results: There is a significant difference between the lines for 28 traits in Ambo and 24 traits at Arsi-Negele. In combined mean performance analysis, the highest yielding line (L8) exceeded the mean of all line checks, mean QPM checks, CM line check (FS67), and best QPM line check (CML144) by 34.89%, 54.80%, 7.30%, and 25.31%, respectively for GY. The value of EPP ranged from 0.91 (L14) to 1.85 (L3) with an overall mean of 1.19). The highest yielding line (L8) had the 2nd highest EPP (1.63). Mean EPP of the top five QPM lines was less by 5.45%, 4.96%, 22.41%, and 6.41% compared with the mean of all checks, mean of QPM line checks, best QPM check, and CM line check, respectively. The high yielder line (L8) had a higher mean value than the mean of lines checks (CML144, CML159, and FS67), mean of QPM lines checks, best QPM check (CML144), and FS67 by 25.71%, 26.36%, 3.16%, and 24.43%, respectively. Conclusion: In general, the study confirmed the existence of promising new QPM parental lines. These promising lines can be used as source material in the breeding program for further improvement.