Response of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids to drought stress at early seedling stage

Water shortage is a key problem in semi-arid regions of the world like Pakistan. It hinders plant growth, yield and eventually leads to a substantial crop failure. Though maize (Zea mays L.) is prone to water deficit, there is a marked genotypic difference in rooting density, morphological and physiological characteristics in maize. A pot experiment was conducted in 2009–10 to screen eight maize hybrids (FH-810, P-33H25, FH-985, ICI8288, FH-963, YH-1921, Syngenta-8441 and Rafhan-3333) for water stress tolerance, grown at three moisture levels (100, 80 and 60% of field capacity) and evaluated on the basis of dry matter production. A factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used. Among tested hybrids pioneer P-33H25 performed best under normal and water deficit environment by assimilating more dry matter under either of the moisture regime, while lower dry matter was produced by FH-810.