Background:
The Northern hill zone (NHZ) has approximately 8.4 lakhs hectare area under maize. Almost 100 % of the maize in this ecology is grown as rainfed crop. The medium and long duration cultivars are not much suitable (particularly in hill region), this is because September onward the temperature started decreasing and hence create hindrance in their maturity. As we know, there are lots of opportunities to enhance national maize production by cultivating maize hybrids in this ecology; this is because most of the area over there is still under OPV and land races cultivation which are lower in yield. Further, peoples of NHZ consume maize as food also. The normal endosperm of maize has all essential amino acids, except lysine and tryptophan, thus led to protein-energy under nutrition (PEU) (formerly known as proteinenergy malnutrition, PEM). Therefore developing quality protein maize with short duration and high yielding characteristics can address this issue very effectively.:
Technology Details:
In view of importance of short duration, high yielding maize hybrids with enriched lysine and tryptophan content, the objective was taken up to develop suitable bio-fortified maize hybrids for the target ecology. This has results the development, release and notification of LQMH1 (IMHQPM1530), a productive early maturing, bio-fortified (It exhibited high tryptophan and lysine content) maize hybrid suitable for cultivation in NHZ with in-built tolerance to biotic stresses. This hybrid was released and notified in the year 2020 by CVRC. The female line is very productive and there is good synchrony in hybrid seed production. However, the synchrony of male and female flowering needs to be checked and required standardization of seed production techniques at the site of seed production.:
Cultivar and growing ecologies : LQMH1 (IMHQPM1530) for Northern Hill Zone (NHZ) comprising the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal PradeshType of corn : Quality Protein Maize (QPM) Parentage : IML-343-1× HKI 163 Year of release (CSC on CSN & RVAC) : 2020, (Dated 10th July, 2020) Gazette Notification Details : S.O. 3482 (E)S.N.38, Dated 7th October, 2020 Yield (t/ha) : 7.5-8.0t/ha in the recommended ecology Season : Kharif Season Maturity Group : Early (100 days in NHZ; 80-85 Days in others) Reaction to major diseases and insects : This hybrid is tolerant to Chilo partellus insect, Turcicum leaf blight and Banded leaf and sheath blight diseases Other remarks : Early maturity single cross hybrid shown significant yield superiority (22.4 %) over the relevant best check in Northern Hill Zone during three years of testing in AICRP trials of maize. It exhibited high Tryptophan (0.75-0.80%) and Lysine content (3.0-3.5%) in endospermic protein. This hybrid is responsive to high inputs, due to short duration it can be fit better in any maize based cropping system