_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: almeida.rna94@gmail.com, rafaelcabral1500@gmail.com; Journal of Experimental Agriculture International 42(12): 1-12, 2020; Article no.JEAI.64506 ISSN: 2457-0591 (Past name: American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, Past ISSN: 2231-0606) Genetic Gains to Grain Yield of Maize Varieties for Small Farmers in Brazil Ana Paula Cândido Gabriel Berilli 1 , Rafael Nunes de Almeida 2* , Luis Eduardo Gottardo 1 , Monique Moreira Moulin 1 , Messias Gonzaga Pereira 2 , Sávio da Silva Berilli 1 , Julio Cesar Fiorio Vettorazzi 2 , Roberto dos Santos Trindade 3 and Robson Ferreira de Almeida 1 1 Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia do Espírito Santo, Rodovia BR 482, Km 47 s/n, Alegre, ES, CEP: 29520-000, Brasil. 2 Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Agropecuárias, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000 –Parque Califórnia –Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, CEP: 28013-602, Brasil. 3 Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa e Agropecuária, Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, Rodovia MG 424, Km 45 s/n, Sete Lagoas, MG, CEP: 35701-970, Brasil. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Authors APCGB, LEG, MMM, MGP, SSB and RST designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors RNA and JCFV managed the analyses of the study. Authors APCGB and RFA managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/JEAI/2020/v42i1230622 Editor(s): (1) Dr. Daniele De Wrachien, State University of Milan, Italy. Reviewers: (1) R. Ravikesavan, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. (2) Maria Helena de Aguiar Pereira e Pestana, ISCTE-IUL Lisbon Univerity and Loreate Lisbon Univeristy, Portugal. (3) Suranjana Sarkar, Surendranath College, India. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sdiarticle4.com/review-history/64506 Received 28 November 2020 Accepted 30 December 2020 Published 31 December 2020 ABSTRACT The demand for expanding the genetic base in working collections of older maize breeding programs points to the need to pool efforts and reaffirm methodologies for conserving genetic variability that can still be accessed in maize populations. The objective of the work was to select full sib maize progenies and to estimate genetic gains in the first cycle of reciprocal recurrent Original Research Article