Breeding for improved abiotic stress tolerance in maize adapted to southern Africa

The difficulty of choosing appropriate selection environments has restricted breeding progress for abiotic stress tolerance in highly variable target environments. Genotype-by-environment interactions in southern African maize growing environments result from factors related to maximum temperature, season rainfall, season length, within-season drought, subsoil pH and socio-economic factors that result in sub-optimal input application. In 1997, CIMMYT initiated a product-oriented breeding program targeted at improving maize for the drought-prone mid-altitudes of southern Africa. Maize varieties were selected in Zimbabwe using simultaneous selection in three types of environments, (i) recommended agronomic management/high rainfall conditions, (ii) low N stress, and (iii) managed drought. Between 2000 and 2002, 41 hybrids from this approach were compared with 42 released and pre-released hybrids produced by private seed companies in 36–65 trials across eastern and southern Africa. Average trial yields ranged from less than 1 t/ha to above 10 t/ha. Hybrids from CIMMYT's stress breeding program showed a consistent advantage over private company check hybrids at all yield levels. Selection differentials were largest between 2 and 5 t/ha and they became less significant at higher yield levels. An Eberhart–Russell stability analysis estimated a 40% yield advantage at the 1-t yield level which decreased to 2.5% at the 10-t yield level. We conclude that including selection under carefully managed high-priority abiotic stresses, including drought, in a breeding program and with adequate weighing can significantly increase maize yields in a highly variable drought-prone environment and particularly at lower yield levels.