Influence of endophytes on seed yield in heat resilient maize hybrid/ RCRMH-2 seed production

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted to study the influence of endophytes on seed yield and yield parameters in heat-resilient maize hybrid RCRMH-2 seed production at Agriculture Research Station and College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi, during Rabi 2024-25. The experiment was laid out in two factorial randomized block design with three replications and tweleve treatments. The first factor consists Endophytes (P) viz., Beauveria bassiana (P1), Metarhizium anisopliae (P2), Bacillus subtilis (P3) and second factor consists methods of application (M) viz., M1: Seed treatment, M2: Seed priming, M3: Foliar spray and M4: Soil drenching to both male (CML 451) and female (CAL1514) the parental lines. Among all treatments, P2M1 (Metarhizium anisopliae via seed treatment) recorded significantly the highest cob length (14.35 cm), cob diameter (3.49 cm), cob weight (101.52 g), number of seeds per cob (234.20), hundred seed weight (35.61 g), seed yield per hectare (30.77 q) and shelling percentage (85.98) over the remaining treatments and was followed by P2M2 (Metarhizium anisopliae via priming). The study indicated that seed treatment with Metarhizium anisopliae (@ 20 g kg⁻¹) can be used to get maximum seed yield, which is beneficial to the seed growers and producers.