In Brazil, acid soils represent a large portion of the agricultural area and the development of cultivars with tolerance to acidity has shown to be feasible. The identification of germoplasm potentially tolerant to acidity was the purpose of this work. Two distinct groups of maize (Zea mays L.) populations were crossed according to the partial diallel mating scheme: Group [1] with six adapted populations and Group [2] with seven exotic varieties. All varieties and crosses were evaluated under the condition of acid and low fertility soil. Traits analyzed were: EY- ear yield, PH- plant height and EH- ear height. Outstanding varieties per se, with yield higher than 3 t ha-1, were SUWAN-2, TAITINGA, TAIÚBA and IUBATÃ in Group [1]; and CUPURICO DMR, TUXPEÑO AMARILLO, and AMARILLO DENTADO in Group [2]. Heterosis and its components showed no significant variation for PH and EH; and only average heterosis was significant for EY. The general combining ability effects (g i and g j) showed significant variation (P<0.01) for all traits and were due mainly to the variation of variety effects. The higher estimates g i for EY were exhibited by WP 12 (0.178 t ha-1), TAIÚBA (0.176) and TAITINGA (0.161) in Group [1]; and for g j by CUPURICO DMR (0.300), TAITINGA TUXPEÑO AMARILLO (0.280) in Group [2], respectively. The variety cross TAITINGA x TUXPEÑO AMARILLO with mean yield of 4.34 t ha-1 and 25% of mid-parent heterosis may be indicated as an heterotic pattern. PH and EH were not considered as limiting to preclude the use of the outstanding populations. The varieties SUWAN 2, CUPURICO DMR, and TAITINGA were suggested to be used in maize breeding programs for acid soils.
Zea mays; partial diallel; heterosis; acid soil; aluminum tolerance
