Evaluation of Hybrid Maize Performance Under Diverse Weather Conditions and Soil Types.

Maize breeding programs develop many thousands of new hybrids each year that must be tested for performance against existing varieties.  The yield potential of a maize variety depends on soil and weather conditions during crop growth and development.  One key factor in selecting new cultivars involves an assessment of the stability of hybrid performance under diverse weather conditions and soil types.  In this project, statistical models are being developed to evaluate the genetic merit of hybrids in multi-environment trials across the U.S. Corn Belt. Changing environmental conditions in a location during the crop life time has a direct impact on the performance of the crop. In our model, indices are produced to take into account this variation in environment.  These models can be used to explain the difference in performance of the test hybrids compared to that of checks.  The stability of hybrid performance across diverse environments is also determined.  This information can be used to quantify and explain differences in hybrid performance, genotype by environment interaction, and adaptability/stability of the crop to better inform researchers, breeders, and farmers in variety selection.