Analysis of the combining ability of temperate and tropical maize (Zea mays L.) lines in Burkina Faso

The development of high-yielding maize varieties requires an adequate choice of potential parents for hybrid development. New yellow inbred lines were used to generate new hybrids through a half-diallel design in 2021. The new hybrids were evaluated in three environments in 2022 and 2023, using the alpha latice design with three replicates. Observations focused on grain yield and its components. The variability within hybrids was determined and the general and specific combining ability (GCA and SCA) of the inbred lines were estimated. The results showed high variability (P < 0.001) within the hybrids, between study environments and their interaction for the majority of traits assessed. In addition, the GCA and SCA variances showed significant differences for all the traits assessed. This is an indication of the presence of both additive and non-additive gene effects in the inheritance of the traits.  The inbred lines PI601561, ELN45-1-1-1, FBML10 and TZEI146 lines recorded positive and significant GCA effects for yield and yield-related traits revealing that these lines could be potential inbred lines for high yielding hybrids development as well as new inbred lines extraction. These lines could be used as testers for future studies. The results also showed that hybrids such as FBML10 x PI601009, ELN45-1-1-1 x PI601686, TZEI17 x PI601191, TZEI146 x PI600954, etc. showed positive and significant SCA effects for the grain yield trait. These hybrids could be used to develop three-way and two-way hybrids to improve maize production.