The Release and Registration of High Yielding Maize Hybrid Cultivar-AMH854 (“Ambo”) for the Transitional-Highland to Highland Agro-Ecologies of Ethiopia

Abstract

‘Ambo’ is the common name given to the new maize (Zea mays L.) hybrid with the breeders’ name AMH854 after its official release from the highland maize research sub-program based at Ambo Agricultural Research Center. The name ‘Ambo’ is given to mark the change of name of the Ambo Plant Protection Research Center (which had been dedicated to excellence in only plant protection research) to the Ambo Agricultural Research Center of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research. ‘Ambo’ is a three-way cross hybrid developed from the combination of three parental inbred lines. So far, a number of improved maize cultivars that have increased the yield gains in the maize production system, were released by the national maize breeding programs. As part of the national maize research system, the highland maize breeding program has been developing and releasing high yielding cultivars, of which ‘Ambo’ (or AMH854) is the latest addition in the list. Better grain yield potential with acceptable plant stature plus good husk cover than previous releases of the program are desirable characters of this hybrid. It has up to 22 % of yield advantage over the check. For these reasons, ‘Ambo’ was released for commercial production in the transitional-highland to highland maize growing agro-ecologies of Ethiopia in 2022.