Environmental Variability of Thousand Kernel Weight in Maize Hybrids of Different Maturity Groups

Thousand kernel weight (TKW) is an important yield component trait affected by the environmental conditions. This study’s objectives were to determine an environmental variability for the TKW in 32 maize hybrids, sorted in four FAO maturity groups (FAO300, 400, 500 and 600), and to compare 12 environments in Croatia (six locations in two years) according to the joint linear regression and stability analyses across the maturity groups. In general, the effects of the environment, genotype, and their interaction (GEI) were significant. A three-factor ANOVA revealed the greatest and highly significant year effect, while the location effect was non-significant across all four FAO groups. A stability analysis did not detect any preferences with regard to the locations and trends across the FAO groups. It indicates that all locations in the Pannonian region included in this study were suitable for an evaluation of the TKW in maize genotypes belonging to all maturity groups. The TKW seems to be an appropriate yield-component trait for maize breeding due to a high heritability and linear GEI nature.