Eighty-two and twenty-seven maize inbred lines (derived from popcorn cultivars Guarani and IAC-64, respectvely) have been evaluated as to their potentials for hybrid synthesis , using as a tester a single hybrid, arisen from cultivar South American Mushroom (SAM). Top crosses were alocated to field trials I, II and III, carried out during 1996/97 growing season, in seven different sites. The following agronomic traits have been scored: plant height (PH), ear height (EH), number of ears per plant (NE), frequency of rotten ears (RE), grain yield (GY) and seed popping ability (PA). Top crosses with IAC-64 inbred lines have shown significant PH and EH reductions and PA increase, while those involving Guarani inbred lines presented trends of increasing GY and NE, and decreasing RE. Most of the top crosses have outperformed control checks Zélia and USA Composite as to GY, NE, PH and EH regarding CE, some of them have presented averages significantly higher than Zélia’s but similar to those of USA Composite. So, new popcorn hybrids of high yielding performance and good seed quality can be selected, in the near future, by using some of the inbred lines evaluated in this research work.
popcorn; inbred lines; top crosses; specific combining ability
