Accelerating silage maize breeding: forage yield and nutritive quality of doubled haploid-derived hybrids

Genotypes S6 and S9 provided higher forage yield, plant height, ear ratio, and a lower stem ratio. All genotypes of dry matter, crude protein, NDF, and ADF values were within the desired range. DH-derived hybrids outperformed checks and those derived from conventional inbred lines regarding forage yield and the investigated agronomic traits. The DH technology has great potential in developing high-yielding hybrids in a short time in silage maize breeding.