Department of Plant Breeding, Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa-848 125, District Samastipur, Bihar, (India).
To identify naturally occurring stem borer. Chilo partellus (Swinhoc), resistant hybrid of maize (Zea mays L.), 45 F1S were made by ten selected inbred lines. Of these, three crosses i.e., I3 × I7, I4 × I8 and I7 × I10 in respect of grain yield per plant and tolerant to the stem borer reaction were found to be stable over the environments as indicated by the estimates of various stability parameters. Associations among characters studied, the correlation analysis revealed that plant height, ear height, ear length, ear diameter, kernel rows per ear and grain yield per plant had negative or poor positive correlation with reaction to the stem borer. Considering stability parameters and correlation, three crosses, viz., I3 × I7, I4 × I8 and I7 × I10 were superior for resistance to the stem borer and high grain yield with the further evaluation at various agroclimatic regions to determine the ideal type.
