Inter-Population Hybrids in Open-Pollinated Varieties of Maize

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Abstract
Crosses between 3 open-pollinated varieties of maize exhibit heterosis in yield in the F1 generation and the F2 performance is intermediate between parents and F1. These findings are in contrast to those of Drosophila where the F2 has been found equal or inferior to parent strains in characters relating to fitness and they have been interpreted as evidence for the importance of epistasis. The degree of genetic diversity of the parent varieties of maize with particular reference to the possibility of non-segregating loci in these varieties in contrast to populations developed from more divergent parents may account for the difference in results with Drosophila and maize.