Yield and combining ability of maize cultivars under different ecogeographic conditions

The objective of this study was to evaluate the yield and combining ability of maize cultivars (AG4051, AL30,AL25, D270, D170, and AG1051) in contrasting environments. The trials were conducted in the growing season 2002/2003,in Viçosa, Capinópolis and Florestal, state of Minas Gerais. The effects of hybrids were significant by the F test, as well astreatments x environments, hybrid combinations x environments, and controls x environments. This indicates the possibilityof increasing the yield in these regions by capitalizing on the genotype x environment interaction, by selecting and recombiningcultivars for each site. Among the cultivars and their hybrid combinations, AG1051 and AG4051 x AL30, respectively,performed best in the mean of the three locations. The most indicated combinations for each site were: AG4051 X AL30 andAL30 X D270 in Viçosa, AG4051 X AL25 and AL30 X D170 in Florestal and, D170 x AG4051 and AL25 x D270 inCapinópolis.