Combining ability of forage maize S3 progenies in topcrosses for traits of the vegetative part and whole plant

- The objective of this work was to evaluate the combining ability of S3 forage maize (Zea mays) progenies for traits related to forage yield and bromatological quality, with and without the ear, as well as to evaluate the ability of testers to discriminate progenies for these traits. The trials were carried out in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 crop seasons, in the municipality of Guarapuava, in the state of Parana, Brazil. Topcross hybrids obtained from the crosses of 28 S3 maize progenies with three testers were evaluated. The following forage qualitative traits of the whole plant and of the plant without the ear were evaluated: neutral and acid detergent fibers, lignin, and in situ dry mass digestibility, as well as digestible dry mass yield of the whole plant. The progenies that stood out for forage qualitative traits were 85.1 and 42.1 for the whole plant and for the plant without the ear, respectively. For the qualitative and productive traits of whole-plant forage, progenies 91.1, 106.2, 126.2, 138.1, 152.1, 235.1, and 251.1 are promising to continue in the breeding program aiming to generate hybrids with a high yield and fiber quality. Testers LEM3 and AG8025 are efficient in discriminating progenies for forage yield and bromatological traits.