MAIZE HYBRID SEED PRODUCTION BY THE MUTUAL RANDOM MATING OF THE PARENTAL COMPONENTS

Starting from the biological principal that maize is an allogam plant, a hypothesis can be proved: maize hybrid seed can be produced by the mutual random mating of the parental components. The mutual random mat ing of the parental components means that the F-1 hybrid seed is not p roduced by the traditional methods (female and male rows with detassel ing or using male sterile female) but the advantages of the mutual sel ective fertilisation of maize are utilised, and the inbred lines (and/ or basic single crosses) are planted mixed and they are random mated v ica versus. The hybrid seed produced in this way will certainly includ e the self-fertilised grains of the parental components as well to som e percentage. On the basis of the trials up to now it seems to be easy to attain 70% (or more) cross-pollination ratio rooting in the prefer ence between the individual genotypes. If this F-1 seed, which is mixe d with the seed of the self-fertilised parental components, so genetic ally contaminated, is planted with an increased - at least according t o the ratio of contamination - seed quantity, the yield of the commerc ial maize producing area will be only by 3-8% less (not significant di fference) than that of the 100% check according to the results of the small plot trials. This seed production method, which is cheaper and s impler than any other known seed production -methods, could be applied successfully in those developing countries, in which the conditions o f the modern large farm maize production and those of modern seed prod uction are not available.