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We examined the heterotic parameterizations of diallel crosses among 10 popcorn inbred lines in two different environments (municipalities of Campos dos Goytacazes and Itaocara, Rio de Janeiro State) and originating from tropical, temperate and subtropical germoplasm. Traits, including grain yield (GY), plant height (PH), ear height (EH), days to silking (FL) and popping expansion (PE), were measured. The inbred lines and the hybrids were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The sources of genotypic variation, inbred lines and heterosis had significant effects on all traits. When the sources of heterotic variation were compared separately, estimated mean heterosis was found to be significant for all traits. When inbred lines and specific heterosis was investigated, only popping expansion was not significantly different, demonstrating that heterotic effects are favorable for developing superior hybrids. A direct relation between gi and Vi was made clear, especially for traits that were slightly influenced by the effects of dominance. Additivity was determined to have the best effect for improving popping expansion. The hybrid combinations had positive estimates of heterosis for the GY but not for PE. The hybrids P1 x P3 and P2 x P4 had the best responses for the GY and PE. The superiority of the combination P1 x P3 shows that the addition of genomes with different edaphoclimatic adaptations is an important factor in obtaining superior hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]