PHENOTYPIC PERFORMANCE OF NEW PRO-VITAMIN A MAIZE (Zea mays L.) HYBRIDS USING THREE SELECTION INDICES Adesike OlAdOyin kOlAwOle 1* And AbiOdun FAtAi OlAyinkA 2 kolawole, A.O. and Olayinka, A.F. (2022). Phenotypic performance of new pro-vitamin A maize (Zea mays l.) hybrids using three selection indices. Agriculture (Poľnohospodárstvo), 68(1), 1 – 12. Adesike Oladoyin kolawole (*Corresponding author), department of Crop Production and soil science, Faculty of Agri- cultural sciences, ladoke Akintola university of technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, nigeria. e-mail: aokolawole@lautech. edu.ng Abiodun Fatai Olayinka, west Africa Centre for Crop improvement, university of Ghana legon, Accra, Ghana. e-mail: aolayinka@wacci.ug.edu.gh key words: agronomic traits, breeding programme, rank, selection differential, variation 1 Agriculture (Poľnohos podárst vo) , 68, 2022 (1) : 1 − 12 dOi: 10.2478/agri-2022-0001 Original article © 2022 Authors. this is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-nonComercial-noderivs license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 1 ladoke Akintola university of technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, nigeria 2 university of Ghana legon, Accra, Ghana the development of new bio-fortifed maize hybrids is crucial for achieving food security and alleviation of micronutrient defciencies. This study aims at assessing the performance of new pro-vitamin A maize hybrids and identifying potential high-yielding hybrids using base index, multivariate selection index, and rank summation index. twenty-four pro-vitamin A maize hybrids and one hybrid check were evaluated in the rainy seasons of 2018 and 2019 at ladoke Akintola university of technology teaching and Research farm in Ogbomoso, nigeria. Hybrids were planted each year in a 5 × 5 α lattice design with three replications. Data collected on grain yield and agronomic traits were analysed. The hybrids showed signifcant (P < 0.001) variations for all measured traits except plant aspect and maize streak virus scores. the mean grain yield of hy- brids over two years varied from 1,106 kg/ha (l y1312-12) to 5,144 kg/ha (ly1501-9). the highest yielding hybrid across the years had a 31% yield advantage over the single-cross hybrid used as a check. the base index had the highest selection differential (34%) for grain yield. the rank summation index had a strong correlation with the multivariate selection index (r = ‒0.86 +++ ) followed by base index (r = ‒0.56 +++ ). The three selection indices used identifed three superior three-way cross hybrids (l y1409-21, ly1501-9 and ly1501-1) with a slight change in rank order. these outstanding hybrids which combine high productivity with nutrients may be considered for advanced multi-location and on-farm testing before their release to farmers in derived savanna agroecology of nigeria. Maize (Zea mays l.) is a staple cereal crop in Africa (Musundire et al. 2021) with increasing de- mand as food, animal feed and industrial products in nigeria (Olaniyan 2015; kolawole et al. 2018). the ever-increasing human population and demand led farmers in diverse agro-ecological zones of ni- geria to the cultivation of various maize genotypes with yield increase over open-pollinated varieties viz., synthetics, composites, non-conventional maize hybrids (top-cross, double top-cross, and va- rietal cross), and conventional maize hybrids (sin- gle, three-way and double-cross). Reif et al. (2003) described the development of maize hybrids as the most signifcant milestone in agriculture because of its uniformity and improved productivity. More so, established seed companies targets either the single or three-way cross hybrids considering the cost of production whereas, resource-limited farmers most- ly grow the single-cross hybrids for increased pro- ductivity.