HERITABILITY ESTIMATES AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF HALF SIB FAMILIES DERIVED FROM MAIZE VARIETY SARHAD WHITE

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of 196 half sib families (HSF) derived from Sarhad White variety of maize at the Research Farm of Agricultural University, Peshawar using partially balanced lattice square design with two replications. Results indicated significant differences among HSF for all the studied traits, except grain yield. Among the 196 families, maximum days to tasseleing (58), silking (59) and anthesis (59) were recorded for HSF-58 and HSF-21, respectively. Maximum plant height (197 cm) was observed for HSF-11 while minimum (104 cm) was recorded for HSF- 105 and 145. Minimum ear height (44 cm) was observed for HSF-61 while maximum (102.5 cm) was recorded for HSF-27. Highest kernel rows ear^-1 (19) was observed for HSF-152 whereas, minimum (11) was recorded for HSF-134 and HSF-182. Maximum 100 grains weight (42.9.6 g) was expressed by HSF-23 while minimum (23.05 g) was exhibited by HSF-132. Highest grain yield (11018.5 kg ha^-1) was recorded for HSF-117 while minimum grain yield (987.5 kg ha^-1) was recorded for HSF-67. Maximum heritability estimate (69.17 %) was observed for plant height, while minimum (5.08 %) was observed for days to mid-silking. Highest correlation of yield was recorded with ear height. These results suggest that these half-sib families could be used as source of improved maize germplasm for developing maize genotypes with superior attributes.