Using donors of earliness in maize breeding in the steppe zone of the North Caucasus Federal District of Russia

Background. Cultivation of maize hybrids belonging to the FAO 100–300 maturity groups up to the 55th parallel north becomes an important area in providing feed for livestock. The range of maize hybrids of the ultra-early and early maturity groups is very narrow due to the lack of sufficient diversity in the initial breeding material. Development of new sources for breeding hybrid maize cultivars adapted to the agroclimatic conditions of 50–55°N is relevant.

Materials and methods. The studies were conducted in the steppe zone of the North Caucasus Federal District (Prokhladny, Kabardino-Balkaria) in 2021–2024. The work involved 250 samples of the S₁ВС₁ population obtained by hybridizing ten maize lines – CMS maintainers developed by OTBOR Ltd. – with the ultra-early maize cultivar ‘Beloyaroye Psheno’ (k-5240) from the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR). The methods included inbreeding, test crosses with CMS lines (M and C types), phenological and morphometric analyses, and testing of seedlings for cold resistance under laboratory conditions.

Results. As a result of saturating crosses and inbreeding, it was possible to isolate 7 ultra-early, 57 early and 3 mid-early lines from the splitting S1ВС1 population, 5 of which showed seedling resistance to low temperatures. Phenological observations showed that the recombinant lines shifted the flowering dates towards early maturity in the range from 4 to 16 days, which made it possible to shift the maturity groups of the inbred material from mid-late to ultra-early and early according to the FAO classification.

Conclusion. The results confirm the possibility of creating early-maturing source material for breeding early and ultra-early hybrid maize using S₁ВС₁ of the ultra-early maize cv. ‘Beloyaroye Psheno’ as a donor of earliness.

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