AGRO-NUTRITIONAL VARIATIONS OF QUALITY PROTEINMAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) IN NIGERIA

Quality protein maize (QPM) combining the enhanced levels oflysine and tryptophan with high grain yield and desirable agronomic traits couldreduce food insecurity and malnutrition in West and Central Africa. Twenty-twovarieties of QPM and two local checks were evaluated for agronomiccharacteristics and nutritional qualities in the southern Guinea savanna of Nigeriafor two years (2009 and 2010). Though crude protein levels are good indicators ofquality, amino acid composition analyses, especially lysine and tryptophan thatwould provide a final proof are in progress. The genotypes comprised five openpollinated varieties (OPVs), nine inbred lines, eight hybrids and two local varieties.Differences among the varieties were significant (P 0.01) for grain yield, days totasselling as well as plant and ear heights, while year x variety interaction was onlysignificant (P 0.05) for days to tasselling. Most of the QPM inbred lines (CML437, CML 490 CML 178) and hybrids (Dada-ba, ART98-SW5-OB, ART98-SW4-OB and TZPB-OB) have superior performance for grain yield, other yieldattributes and nutritional qualities compared with the OPVs and local checks.These inbreds could be potential sources of favorable alleles useful for futuremaize breeding, while the hybrids could be evaluated in different environments ofNigeria for comparative advantages in different environments and quality of thegrains to be released to farmers.