| Sumario: | Staggering planting of male and female parents in hybrid seed production is one of the challenges for large scale seed production for seed companies in the developing countries. Breeders need to provide data on nicking of the parents of new hybrids before release. This study was designed to generate information on nicking of 21 pairs of parents of new maize hybrids to facilitate commercial seed production. Twenty-one pairs of male inbred and female single-cross parents of intermediate drought tolerant and Striga resistant hybrids were tested in three sites (Ikenne, Mokwa, Zaria) in Nigeria. The results showed that the 21 female single-cross parents flowered earlier than the male inbred parents. Days between anthesis and silking of the female and male parents varied from -0.7 to 8.3. Ten pairs (Entry#1, 2, 3, 13, 16, 18, 6, 7, 11, 14) of the parents had excellent nicking, ranging from -0.7 to 5.3 days, with high yield potential for three-way cross hybrids seed production. These pairs of parents can be plated the same day for large scale seed production for commercialization. Eleven other pairs of male inbred lines and female single-cross parents had male and female anthesis to silking interval ranging from 6.3 to 8.3 days that can be staggered by three to five effective planting days during sowing to achieve good nicking; this is capital intensive for commercial seed production. Nicking of both male and parental lines within few days would facilitate effective seed production operations contributing to profitability for seed companies. Additionally, the agronomic data generated during this study will be shared with seed companies for use in the varietal release, seed production, and commercialization.
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