RESULTS OF THE MAIZE BREEDING PROGRAM FROM A.R.D.S. TURDA IN THE CREATION OF SEMI EARLY MAIZE HYBRIDS

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays) represents one of the most important agricultural crops, both worldwide and in Romania, where it is the plant cultivated on the largest areas. Agricultural research must respond to market demand with productive hybrids, adapted to the cultivation area, so at the Agricultural Research and Development Station Turda the creation of such hybrids is a priority objective. In the last decade, 5 semi-early maize hybrids with high yields were registered and introduced into production: Turda 332, Turda 344, Turda 335, Turda 2020 and Turda 380. These maize hybrids were tested both at Agricultural Research and Development Station Turda, as well as in the network of research stations belonging to Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences. Their testing was also carried out in the State Institute for Variety Testing and Registration Network, in order to be registered in the Official Catalogue of cultivated plant varieties in Romania. All five hybrids outperformed the controls used in the experiment, having superior yields. At A.R.D.S. Turda, the average yield in 3 years of experimentation exceeded 12.7 t/ha for all 5 hybrids tested, but Turda 344, Turda 335 and Turda 2020 stand out. In the case of experimentation in the A.A.F.S. network the hybrids Turda 335, Turda 2020 and Turda 380 stood out, with the highest yields, but it should be noted that for all 5 hybrids yield of over 9.3 t/ha were recorded. In the S.I.V.T.R. network the hybrids Turda 335 and Turda 2020 stood out, with average productions of approximately 13 t/ha obtained in three and two years of testing, respectively.