YIELD AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF DIFFERENT MAIZE HYBRIDS UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

Oltenia from Romania is one of the most important agricultural regions but and one of the most prone regions to extreme weather phenomena i.e. drought and heat. In this region, direct selection for yield is not adequate because of the variable environment. Therefore, the use of different selection procedure and traits in addition to yield has been suggested. In this study we examined the response of different maize hybrids to drought stress conditions, in terms of grain yield traits and nutritional quality. The trials were conducted at Agricultural Research and Development Station Simnic, in the central part of Oltenia, under field conditions in 2016 (without drought) and 2017 (with drought). The grain yield decreased by 50.0%, the 1000-grain weight by 11.2% and the shelling percentage by 1.5%, but the protein percentage increased by 10.1%, under drought stress. The 1000-grain weight was identified as a reliable trait for selecting for drought tolerance in maize. Screening for drought tolerance using ranking method discriminated hybrids PO 216, PO 412 and DK 4590 as the most drought tolerant hybrids. In addition to, results of this study showed that among tolerance indices STI, SSI, MP, GMP and SDI can be used as the most suitable indices for screening drought tolerant hybrids. It can be concluded that the identification of tolerant hybrids to drought stress conditions is crucial for maize breeding programs, considering the climate changes