Evaluación de desespigue mecánico en híbridos dobles de maíz, en los valles altos de México.

The present work's objective is the evaluation of three types of detasseling: i) ear + 1 leaf; ii) ear + 2 leaves; iii) ear + 3 leaves; iv) control without detasseling in the four coro crosses presenting tiller production, which increases detasseling costs and time, and makes it more difficult. In a factorial arrangement, the detasseling treatments were applied with shears to simulate mechanical detasseling The variables evaluated were: yield, percentage of large seeds, percentage of medium seeds, and percentage of grain. Significant differences were found among genotypes, but not with mechanical detasseling, nor for the interaction. The simple cross (M17xM18) showed the highest yield with 6.5 tlhs and 47.9% of large seeds. Conversely, the cross M36xM37 showed the lowest yield with 2 t/ha and 16.1 % of large seeds. The lowest yield per detasseling occurred under this practice + 1 leaf with 4.6 t/ha, and the highest yield occurred with detasseling + three leaves with 5.2 t/ha. These results suggest that in order to achieve an easy and safe detasseling in the evaluated crosses, the best method would be elimination of the masculine organ plus three leaves.