Abstract Maize is considered one of the most important cereal fodder crops. Many studies on morphological diversity in fodder maize have been helpful in obtaining good heterotic hybrids. The current study focused on analysing diversity of 28 fodder maize inbreds with 30 SSR markers, which revealed total of 110 alleles; and their polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.064 to 0.745. Population structure analysis revealed four subpopulation groups with the ΔK value of 132.70. Clustering based on the pairwise dissimilarity coefficient grouped the genotypes into two major and four sub-clusters. The high dissimilarity (0.777) observed between DM 84 and UMI 1221 indicated that these two were highly divergent. Principal coordinate analysis also showed diverse nature of inbreds and corroborated the clustering pattern. Parental diversity and their heterosis performance revealed that parents with average or narrow divergence could be useful in obtaining hybrids with medium/early flowering and moderate/high crude protein content. crops 2 3 markers 11 alleles PIC (PIC 0064 0 064 0.06 0745 745 0.745 13270 132 70 132.70 subclusters. subclusters sub clusters. clusters sub-clusters 0.777 0777 777 (0.777 8 122 divergent pattern mediumearly medium early moderatehigh moderate 1 006 06 0.0 074 74 0.74 1327 13 7 132.7 0.77 077 77 (0.77 12 00 0. 07 0.7 132. (0.7 (0. (0 (

Abstract Maize is recognized as an exceptional forage crop with superior forage quality among cereal forage crops. For forage breeders, the primary objective is to identify high-yielding and stable genotypes. The aim of this study was to select superior and stable fodder maize hybrids from 195 single-cross hybrids on the basis of 16 variables. The selection was carried out using the MGIDI index within each season, with a selection intensity of 5%. Genotypes G48, G47, and G79, which had the lowest MGIDI indices in the rainy 2022, winter 2022, and summer 2023 seasons, respectively, were identified as superior in the 16 variables studied. In addition, the MTSI index was used to evaluate genotype stability across multiple traits, identifying genotype G24 as having the lowest MTSI index. These robust statistical tools proved effective in identifying the most stable and high-performing genotypes among the 195 single-cross forage maize hybrids analyzed. crops breeders highyielding high yielding 19 singlecross single cross 1 season 5 5% G48 G G47 G79 2022 202 seasons respectively studied addition traits G2 highperforming performing analyzed G4 G7 20 2