Determination of Drought Tolerance Levels of Maize Inbred Lines

The objective of the study was to test maize inbred lines for drought tolerance. In the study twenty dent and flint temperate maize inbred lines were evaluated in well-watered and drought stress conditions in 2012 and 2013. Experiments conducted according to Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Drought stress was achived at the flowering by withdrawn water approximately 2-3 weeks before flowering. Anthesis-silking interval (ASI), number of ears per plant (EPP), number of kernels per ear (KPE), senescence and yield traits which are used as the most important selection criterions were evaluated. Also stress indices were used for line identification to drought. The result of the study showed that, Ant I-69 (229.4 kg/da), TK 72 (220.5 kg/da), Ant-24702 (196.4 kg/da), Ant I-39 (174.6 kg/da) and Ant I-09 (146.8 kg/da) were determined as the most tolerant lines to drought, while Ant 910255 (27.6 kg/da), Ant I-46 (28.2 kg/da), Ant I-82 (29.0 kg/da) and Ant I-08 ( 45 kg/da) inbreds were identified as the sensitive lines in terms of yield. Tolerant promising lines Ant I- 69, TK 72, Ant-24702 , Ant I-39 and Ant I-09 were also had good performance in terms of secondary traits such as ASI, number of ears per plant, number of kernel per ear, senescence, yield reduction ratio, drought resistance index and stress tolerance index.In conclusion, it was envisaged that tested maize germplasm can be assessed for breeding drought tolerance and selected maize inbred lines were proposed for future studies