Plant Breeding Impacts and Efforts for Improv...

Plant Breeding Impacts and Efforts for Improving Maize Productivity

Author Name : K V Saikumar Reddy, Harmeet Singh Janeja

ABSTRACT

Crop improvement is responsible for half of the crop productivity increment over the last century, while the rest comes from better crop management. Development of improved varieties for food security and sustainable resource utilization is a major element in improving farmer income and tackling rural stress in addition to efficient use of inputs. In India, demand for corn is growing at a rapid pace especially in the last decade due to increasing disposable incomes and liking of poultry products. Grain yield performance of maize was improved from 547 Kg/ha (1957) to 2600 Kg/ha in 2017-18. India’s Maize production has increased nearly 13 times from 1.73mt (1950-51) to 27.23mt (2017). A total of 392 maize varieties were released since the start of AICRP. More than 140 single cross, 39 double, 62 three-way cross hybrids were released for commercial cultivation in India. Besides, 132 Open-pollinated varieties were recommended for cultivation. Initially, most of OPV, double and three-way crosses were released by State Agricultural universities and Government institutions. The private sector also plays an important role in the improvement of germplasm and the development of high yield inbred lines. This success in yield and quality is attributed to the establishment of the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) in the year 1957 with a mandate to collect, characterize and improve germplasm and development of High yielding cultivars. Future research efforts continue to focus on improvement in yield via enhanced crop management technologies and the development of ‘single cross hybrids’ from diverse and wider backgrounds for various crop rotations and different agro-climatic zones of India. This review paper will visualize the growth curve of maize productivity under the regime of high-yielding varieties especially the single cross hybrids in the last 2 decades.

Keywords: AICRP, Open Pollinated Varieties, Productivity, Single Cross Hybrid.