Ear photometry showed that the maize ear characteristics for each line was tester dependent. When maize lines were crossed to a tester with its heterotic group, many yield components related to ear size and kernels per ear were significantly reduced, but kernel size was rarely impacted. Thus, the effect of heterosis was more noticeable on traits that increased kernels per ear rather than kernel size.
Ear photometry was used to characterize 298 ex-PVP inbred lines and 274 Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) inbred lines when crossed to Iodent (PHP02) and/or Stiff Stalk (2FACC) testers for 25 yield-related traits in 2017 and 2018.