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Background  Maize yield potential is rarely maximized in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to the devastating effects of drought stress and  Striga hermonthica  parasitism. This study was conducted to determine the gains in grain yield and associated changes in an early-maturing yellow bi-parental maize population (TZEI 17 x TZEI 11) F 3  following genomic selection (GS) for improved grain yield,  Striga  resistance and drought tolerance. Fifty S 1  lines were extracted from each of cycles C 0 , C 1 , C 2  and C 3  of the population and crossed to a tester TZEI 23 to generate 200 testcrosses. The testcrosses were evaluated under drought, artificial  Striga -infested and optimal (free from  Striga  infestation and without limitation of water and nitrogen) environments in Nigeria, 2014-2017.    Results  Gains in grain yield of 498 kg ha − 1  cycle − 1  (16.9% cycle − 1 ) and 522 kg ha − 1  cycle − 1  (12.6% cycle − 1 ) were obtained under  Striga -infested and optimal environments, respectively. The yield gain under  Striga -infested environments was associated with increased plant and ear heights as well as improvement in root lodging resistance, husk cover, ear aspect and  Striga  tolerance. Under optimal environments, yield gain was accompanied by increase in plant and ear heights along with improvement of husk cover and ear rot resistance. In contrast, genomic selection did not improve grain yield under drought but resulted in delayed flowering, poor pollen-silk synchrony during flowering and increased ear height. Genetic variances and heritabilities for most measured traits were not significant for the selection cycles under the research environments. Ear aspect was a major contributor to grain yield under all research environments and could serve as an indirect selection criterion for simultaneous improvement of grain yield under drought,  Striga  and optimal environments.    Conclusion  This study demonstrated that genomic selection was effective for yield improvement in the bi-parental maize population under  Striga -infested environments and resulted in concomitant yield gains under optimal environments. However, due to low genetic variability of most traits in the population, progress from further genomic selection could only be guaranteed if new sources of genes for  Striga  resistance and drought tolerance are introgressed into the population.

bmc plant biology

Yield gains and associated changes in an early yellow bi-parental maize population following genomic selection for Striga resistance and drought tolerance