Corn is present in a great number of products and its area and production is growing in the world. In 1991/92 two evaluation trials were conducted in a complete randomised block design and three replications, with 36 hybrids of nine inbred lines in "Não Me Toque" and "Tapera", both in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with the aim of evaluating the genetic diversity and combining ability of these hybrids for ear height, stalk-root, lodging, prolificacy and grain yield. The significant interaction for CGA and SCA with location showed that the genotypes had different performance in the two environments. The inbred lines in the best combinations were the same at the two locations, showing that the CGA was a good indicator of inbred lines performance at hybrid combinations, although the best hybrids were not the same at the two locations. The best inbred lines were ID01, IMD04, IMD06 and ID09.
grains yield; combining ability; genotype vs. environment interaction
