Adaptability and stability of corn cultivars in the Brazilian northeast

Abstract

The yield stability of 21 corn cultivars was submitted to 26 different environments of the Brazilian Northeast region during the 1997 year crop, aiming to obtain regionally adapted materials. The experiments were carried out in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Significant differences were detected between environments, cultivars and differential behavior of cultivars facing environmental variations, by the analysis of variance. The obtained mean productivity of 4,301 kg/ha shows the potential of the cultivars and the good potential of the Brazilian Northeast region for corn crop. All the cultivars showed yield stability under the considered environments. The hybrids, which had better performance than cultivars, constitute an excellent alternative for the region, highlighting among them the BR 3123, Agromen 2003 and Germinal 600, with positive responses to improved environment. The cultivars BR 106, BR 5004 and BR 5033 have their recommendation justified, mostly for small and medium size growers, where they surely will contribute for the improvement of corn productivity.