Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

will fluctuate. As a general rule, less time is required in developing two-parent conventional
and non-conventional hybrids as against multi-parent hybrids in both categories of hybrids
because of the difference in the number of test evaluation phases. The increased supply of
hybrid oriented germplasm in recent years and an increased interest in hybrids by NARS scientists
point to the increased importance of this type of maize research. It is also apparent that large
national programs that had a hybrid component in 1960s, for valid reasons de-emphasized this in
the 1970s, and later reemphasized in the 80s. The growing interest of the national programs in
maize hybrids is reflected in the changing circumstances in more recent years. Some of them are:
1. The impact of OPVs has been rather slow, less apparent, and not very dramatic and spectacular
as has been the case with the introduction of hybrids in some countries. Maintenance of OPVs and
supply of fresh seed on regular basis at least once in 3-4 years has not kept pace as seed
production of such varieties has to be done by the public seed agencies who often cannot do a
good job because of lack of trained personnel added to financial and bureaucratic constraints.
2. The growth of private seed companies both national and multinational has been on the,rise in
recent years. In the past, the infrastructure for seed production of OPVs or hybrids was less
than adequate and sometimes completely nonexistent. In the Asian region, particularly the
private seed companies small or large, national or multinational have dramatically increased
their presence (Table 2). In this region alone there are at least 62 government/public, 20
multinationals and about 83 private national companies.
Table 2. Number of public and private maize seed companies in the different regions of the
developing world. 1990-1991.
Region
Publici
Parastatal
Private/
National
Multinational
Sub-Saharan Africa
West Africa and North Africa
Asia
Latin America
Total
52 8
3 8
77 63
16 89
148 168
9
9
20
38
Source: Maize Impacts Study Survey 1990-1991. CIMMYT, Mexico.
3. The increased presence of private sector could also be a factor in prompting national maize
programs to place some emphasis on hybrid research. This is evident from increased hybridrelated
activities particularly inbreeding, combining ability studies, and development of
heterotic populations.
4. The hybrid sales are picking up dramatically in some countries. A good example would be
Thailand where hybrid sales have shown a quantitative jump in recent years.
5. There is a greater availability of parental inbred material in more recent years. This was
not possible in the past because of restrictions in the free exchange of parental material of
this kind. The situation in recent years has changed dramatically because of announcement of
inbred lines from CIMMYT, IITA, Kasetsart Univ. and lines available from Univ. of Hawaii from Dr.
Brewbaker's program. CIMMYT and IITA made this germplasm freely available to everyone on
request. However, in other cases one may have to pay certain fee for obtaining seeds of lines.
Undoubtedly such inbred lines will boost large companies' hybrid program who are better prepared
to exploit this germplasm more expeditiously. Small companies also will benefit greatly as they
can start producing seed of some combinations which appear to be superior without spending
resources on research. A continuous supply of new and diverse lines will further guarantee the
production of new and superior hybrids in the future. Centers like CIMMYT shall be developing
and distributing more hybrid-oriented germplasm which will provide greater opportunities for
extracting superior lines in higher frequencies.
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