Effect of watering frequency on germination and early growth of maize (Zea mays) seed

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays) is one of the most important cereal crops grown principally during the raining season in Ethiopia which is commonly used for both human consumption and poultry feed. Green house experiment on the effect of watering frequency on germination and early growth of maize was carried out at Ambo Agricultural Research Center using a hybrid maize variety (Jibat) (Zea mays) from December 1 to January20th, 2018/19. The study was conducted to determine the effect of watering frequencies on germination and early growth of maize seed (Zea mays). The highland maize hybrid variety of AMH-851 (Jibat) was used as a test crop for the experiment. Three watering frequencies one day interval, three days intervals and five days intervals were used as an experimental treatment, and they were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. The watering frequencies showed statistically significant differences, on plant shoot length and biomass weight, but the treatments didn’t reveal statistical difference on seedlings emergence. Therefore, one day watering interval shows better performance on shoot length, fresh and dry biomass.