Screening Method and Response Surface Design for Drying Hybrid Maize to Maintain Seed Quality

Hybrid maize ( Zea mays L.) ear drying is an expensive process and considered a bottleneck in seed production. The seed industry does not have an effective procedure to screen germplasm for drying temperature sensitivity and optimum drying conditions. The aims of this paper were (i) to develop a simple, rapid, and reliable technique to screen drying temperature tolerances and (ii) to exploit the response surface design (i.e., predictive model of...