The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic progress obtained in interpopulation hybrids with the reciprocal recurrent selection. During the 2005/2006 planting season, maize (Zea mays) interpopulation crosses from three selection cycles (0, 1 and 2) initiated in 2003, single-cross parental hybrids and the double-cross F1 hybrid were evaluated in randomized blocks with five replicates, at two locations. In the next planting season, only interpopulational hybrids from cycles 0 and 2 were evaluated under the same conditions, with 40 replicates per location. The interpopulation hybrid had a yield performance equivalent to that of the best single-cross parent in few selection cycles. The estimates of genetic progress per cycle were of 7.9% (or 0.7 Mg ha-1) for unhusked ear yield and of 3.5% for prolificacy. It is possible to infer that the reciprocal recurrent selection effectively improves the yield of interpopulational hybrids obtained from F2 generations of single-cross maize hybrids.
Zea mays; family agriculture; single-cross hybrids; response to selection
