Screening drought tolerance criteria in maize

Abstract

Six pure lines of maize were tested in a randomized complete block design with three replications under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Genetic variation was found between the genotypes for yield potential (Y p ), stress yield (Y s ), tolerance index (TOL), geometric mean productivity (GMP), harmonic mean (HM) and stress tolerance index (STI). Stress tolerance index was corrected using a correction coefficient (ki) and thus a modified stress tolerance index (MSTI) was introduced as the optimal selection criterion for drought-tolerant genotypes. The results of three-D plotting indicated that the most desirable genotype for irrigated and rainfed conditions was the genotype K1515, for non-stressed conditions K18 and for stress conditions K104/3, K760/7 and K126/10.