Abstract
<abstract> Maize (<italic>Zea mays</italic> L.) breeders in the West and Central Africa have developed and commercialized extra-early and early-maturing maize hybrids, which combine high yield potentials with tolerance/resistance to drought, low soil-N and <italic>Striga</italic> infestation. Hybrids of both maturity groups have not been investigated for tolerance to high plant density and N application and are new to the farmers; thus, the urgent need to recommend appropriate agronomic practices for these hybrids. We investigated the responses of four hybrids, belonging to the extra-early and early-maturity groups, to three plant densities and three N rates in five locations of different agroecologies. The early-maturing hybrids consistently out-yielded the extra-early maturing hybrids in all the five agroecologies. The hybrids showed no response to N-fertilizer application above 90 kg ha<sup>−1</sup>. All interactions involving N had no significant effect on grain yield and other measured agronomic traits except in few cases. The extra-early and early-maturing hybrids had similar response to plant density; their grain yield decreased as density increased. Contrarily, flowering was delayed and expression of some other agronomic traits such as plant and ear aspects were negatively impacted by increased density. Optimal yield for hybrids of both maturity groups was obtained at approximately 90 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> and 66,666 plants ha<sup>−1</sup>. Most of the measured traits indicated high repeatability estimates across the N levels, densities and environments. Evidently, the hybrids were intolerant of elevated density. It therefore, becomes necessary to improve maize germplasms for high plant density tolerance in the region. </abstract>
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.), a cereal crop adapted to a wide range of ecological conditions, is cultivated in all agroecologies of West and Central Africa (WCA) but primarily produced in the savannas
Irrespective of the maturity group, the single-cross hybrids expressed greater yield performance relative to the top-cross hybrids primarily due to the variability in their genetic background, as well as the lower ear placement and reduced root and stalk lodging associated with single-cross hybrids
Grain yield advantage of the savanna locations relative to the forest locations was attributed to the number of ears per plant
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.), a cereal crop adapted to a wide range of ecological conditions, is cultivated in all agroecologies of West and Central Africa (WCA) but primarily produced in the savannas. The extra-early (85–90 days to maturity) and early (90–95 days to maturity) maize hybrids, that combined high yield potentials with resistance/tolerance to the three stresses are available in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) [3]. These maize hybrids have been adopted by the farmers in the region, grain yield in farmers’ fields has averaged only 1 to 2 t/ha in contrast to the potential yields of about 5 to 7 t/ha reported for experimental stations [9]. These hybrids are new to the farmers, and the existing agronomic recommendations such as N fertilizer rate, intra- and inter-row spacings, may not be appropriate to enable the full expression of grain yield potential of the hybrids
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