GROWTH AND YIELD RESPONSE OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.) VARIETIESTO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER APPLICATIONIN MINNA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) management in maize production is one of the main concerns since it is the most important and primary nutrient for growth and development of the crop. Field trial was carried out at Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Technology MinnaGidanKwanoto determine the growth and yield response of maize varieties to different levelsof nitrogen fertilizer application. The experiment was laid out in 3×4factorial in a Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times.Three varieties of maize used were OBA SUPER, SAMMAZ 17 and KAMPA 6. The treatments were four application levels of Nitrogen fertilizer namely; control(no application), 20kg/ha, 60kg/ha, and 100kg/ha. Five stands of maize were randomly selected and tagged from each plot for data collection. Data collected were plant height, number of leaves, days to 50% tasselling, numberof cobs, cob length, cob weight, and grain weight. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test at 5% level of probability. Result obtained showed that SAMMZA 27, KAMPA6 varieties and application of nitrogen fertilizer(N) at 100 kg/ha produced optimum growth and yield of maize. The application of nitrogen fertilizer at 100 kg/ha and cultivation of SAMMAZ 27 and KAMPA6 maize varieties are hereby recommended for farmers in the study area for optimum growth and yield of maize.