Fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda is a new pest in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), first reported in 2016, and has fast become a pest of economic importance, causing losses of approximately 2.5–6.1 billion U.S. dollars in the region. Developing FAW‐resistant varieties presents an economically sustainable solution to mitigate this challenge. The objective of this study was to identify maize single‐cross hybrids (SCH) with high yield and stability under natural FAW infestation. This study assessed 94 SCH created by crossing three FAW‐tolerant inbred lines with storage weevil‐resistant and elite inbred lines. The 94 SCH with 5 yield checks were evaluated using a 9 × 11 alpha lattice design, with two replications across three environments. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among genotypes for grain yield (GY) and FAW resistance across environments. Genotype‐by‐environment interactions (GEI) and stability analyses were conducted using additive main effects and multiplicative interactions (AMMI) and genotype + genotype‐by‐environment interaction effect (GGE) models to select promising genotypes. Results showed significant differences for genotype, environment, and genotype‐by‐environment interaction. GEI contributed a great percentage (24.2%) of the total variation observed for FAW resistance; for GY, environmental effect contributed more (39.26%) to GY than GEI (16.23%). Stability analysis using GGE identified Entry 65 (CKDHL166087/CZL15088) as the preferred genotype with a mean yield of 5.07 t/ha under FAW pressure. Across environments, entries 100 (CML566/CML543), 65 (CKDHL166087/CZL15142), 81(CKDHL120348/CKLTI0043), 66 (CKDHL166087/CZL15123), and 23 (CKSBL10008/CKDHL1800803) were stable and had high mean yield performance under natural FAW infestation. The study demonstrates the potential of using existing genetic material to develop high‐yielding varieties under high FAW pressure. Further evaluation of promising SCH under artificial and diverse growing conditions is needed. These hybrids could be used to generate a tolerant three‐way cross with other inbred lines.
Aduto et al. (Thu,) studied this question.