CONTACT : JIBAN SHRESTHA jibshrestha@gmail.com 35 Abstract The performance evaluation of maize genotypes at a specific growing region is a key to crop improvement. The objectives of this study were to evaluate grain yield of maize genotypes at Bijayanagar (Mahatgaun VDC) and Tallo Lorpa (Dillichaur VDC), Jumla District of Nepal during spring seasons of 2012 and 2013. The maize genotypes were significant (P< 0.05) for grain yield, days to tasseling and silking and disease scoring where as anthesis-silking interval, plant height and ear height were non significant. The pooled analysis of the results showed that the highest grain yield was produced by Ganesh-1 (4830 kg/ha) followed by KKT-POP (4408 kg/ha), KKT-14 (3952 kg/ha) and MGU-08 (3913 kg/ha, respectively. From this study, Ganesh-1, KKT-POP, KKT-14 and MGU-08 could be preferable choice for cultivation in Jumla district of Nepal ISSN : 2580-2410 eISSN : 2580-2119 Performance evaluation of maize in Jumla district of Nepal: from yielding perspective Jiban Shrestha1*, Dil Bahadur Gurung2, Keshab Babu Koirala2, & Tirtha Raj Rijal3 1Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Agriculture Botany Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal 2Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Kathmandu, Nepal 3National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world after wheat and rice (Golbashy et al., 2010). It is cultivated in a wider range of environments than wheat and rice because of its greater adaptability (Koutsika-Sotiriou, 1999). Maize is second major crop after rice in term of area and production in Nepal (MoALD, 2017). The farm level yield of maize (2.55 t/ha) is not satisfactory as compared to attainable yield (5.7 t/ha) in Nepal (MOAD, 2017; Karki et al., 2015). Maize production in the area suffers much from low fertility, low management, lack of improved varieties, and very severe infections of foliar diseases like turcicum leaf blight, high infestations of striga and stalk borers (Assefa, 1998). As a result, evaluating the performance of hybrid maize genotypes in specific agro ecology on different traits is very crucial.The environmental conditions affect the performance of maize genotypes which requires a breeding program that needs to take into account the consequences of environment and genotype interaction in the selection and release of improved varieties.The karnali region is rich diversity for local maize germplasm. The need of local germplasm collection, their evaluation and utilization for the development of Pools Populations and varieties is only the means to develop the new OPVs for higher grain yield production as well OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Applied Biology Keyword Agronomic, performance, Grain yield, Maize. Article History Received 28 October 2019 Accepted 29 December 2019 International Journal of Applied Biology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 36 as to fit in the existing cropping systems. Jumla, 2,531 square kilometer (sq.km) area with altitude ranging from 915 to 4,679 meters from amsl, is a unique district located in the far north-western part of Nepal. The plane lands in Jumla district are located at the altitude of about 2,350 meters (Shrestha, 2002). The area under maize cultivation in karnali zone represents only 1.16% of the total maize cultivated area and its maize production represents only 0.78% of the total maize production in Nepal. The average maize productivity in karnali zone was 1.66 t/ha which was 15% lower as compared to average national productivity of maize (MoAD, 2012). There is no single maize variety released for karnali zone up to now. Therefore, this study was carried out to identify high yielding maize varieties suitable for karnali zone of Nepal. Materials and Methods Plant materials The maize genotypes used in this study were DLP-01, DLP-14, DLP-16, DLP- Pop (DLP- 01, DLP-14, DLP-16 and DLP-18), HML-04, HML-08, HML-28, HML-Pop (HML-04, HML-08, HML-28 and HML-05), JML-27, JML-30, JML-32, JML-Pop (JML-27, JML-30 and JML- 32), KKT- 02, KKT-03, KKT-14, KKT-Pop (KKT-02, KKT-03 and KKT-14), MGU-03, MGU-08, MGU-15, MGU- PoP (MGU-03, MGU-08 and MGU-15), Dolmu Pop (DLP-01, DLP-14 MGU-03 and MGU-14), Jumka Pop (JML-14, JML-26, KKT-02 and KKT-03), Karnali Pool Yellow (HML-25, KKT-18 and HML-18), Karnali Pool White (DLP-05, DLP- 17, HML-11, MGU-14 and MGU-30), Ganesh-1 and Pool-17 (check variety). All these genotypes were received from National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. Experimental site, crop husbandry and experimental design Twenty six maize genotypes (including Ganesh-1 and Pool-17) during spring seasons of 2012 and 2013 at Bijayanagar (Mahatgaun VDC) and Tallo Lorpa (Dillichaur VDC), Jumla. There were 2 sites i. e. Site 1 and Site 2 at Tallo Lorpa, Jumla. The longitude of Tallo Lorpa is 82° 16’, latitude 29° 19’ and altitude 2540 m. Similarly, The longitude of Bijayanagar is 82° 10’, latitude 29° 17’ and altitude 2580 m. The genotypes were tested in plot size of two rows of three meter length in randomized block design with two replications and plant spacing of 75 × 25 cm2. The plots were fertilized with 120:60:40 N:P2O5:K2O kg/ha in the form of urea, di-amonium phosphate (DAP), and murate of potash (MoP). Entire dose of phosphorus and potash was applied at the time of sowing while urea was added in three split doses and also 15 t/ha farm yard manure (FYM) was incorporated in soil at the time of land preparation. Irrigation was applied as per the requirement of crop. All the trials received standard cultural practices to control weeds and pests. Data recording and measurements Plants harvested from central two rows were used on data measurements. Days to anthesis were counted from sowing to until 50% of plants had shed their pollen and days to silking were recorded from sowing to 50% plants extruded their silks. Anthesis silking interval (ASI) was calculated as the difference between silking and anthesis interval. Plant height and ear height was measured as the distance from ground to the tip of the tassel and the base of the uppermost ear respectively on five plants per plot. Disease scoring was done from 1 to 5 scale (Payak & Sharma, 1983; Shrestha et al., 2019). Grain yield (kg/ha) at 15% moisture content was calculated using fresh ear weight with the help of the formula adopted by International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 37 Carangal et al. (1971) and Shrestha et al. (2018) to adjust the grain yield (kg/ha) at 15% moisture content. Data Analysis All collected data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed by using GENSTAT (version 14th edition; VSN International, Hemel Hempstead, UK). All the data collected were statistically analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure described by Gomez and Gomez (1984) for randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiments. Separation of treatment means for significant difference was done by using the Fisher least significant difference (F-LSD) procedure at 0.05 probability level (Obi, 1986; Shrestha, 2019). Results and Discussion The findings of maize experiments at Bijaynagar, Jumla showed that the grain yield was highest in KKT-POP (6594 kg/ha), JML-30 (4271 kg/ha) and DLP-14 (3141 kg/ha) respectively. The days to 50% tasseling varied from 98 days (HML-28) to 140 days (KKT-02 and KKT-03) and silking varied from 102 days (HML-04, HML-28) to 145 days (KKT-02 and KKT- 03). The plant height varied from 102 cm (HML-08) to 157 cm (DLP-16) and ear height from 40 cm (DLP-01) to 74 cm (KKT-pop). The disease score varied from 1.5 (HML- 04 and KKT-02) to 3 (HML-28 and Ganesh-1). The findings of the maize experiments at Tallo Lorpa, Jumla showed that The grain yield was highest in Ganesh-1 (6210 kg/ha), JML-30 (6203 kg/ha) and KKT-14 (5466 kg/ha) respectively. The days to 50% tasseling varied from 102 days (MGU-pop and HML-04) to 157 days (KKT-02) and silking varied from 107 days (DLP-pop and MGU-pop) to 153 days (KKT- 14). The plant height varied from 104 cm (Pool-17) to 187 cm (Jumka-pop) and ear height from 51 cm (DLP-01) to 104 cm (KKT-14). The disease score varied from 2 (DLP-01, HML-04, HML-pop, JML-27, JML-30, KKT-14, Karnali pool yellow and Karnali pool white) to 3 (DLP-14). The pooled analysis of maize experiments at Tallo Lorpa and Bijaynagar showed that grain yield ranges from 1776 kg/ha (DLP-01) to 4830 kg/ha (Ganesh-1). The grain yield was highest in Ganesh-1 followed by KKT-POP (4408 kg/ha), KKT-14 (3952 kg/ha), MGU-08 (3913 kg/ha), Karnali Pool White (3482 kg/ha), Karnali Pool Yellow (3402 kg/ha) and KKT- 03 (3392 kg/ha) respectively. Table 1. Grain yield and agronomic traits of maize genotypes evaluated at Bijayanagar, Jumla district during spring season of 2012 and 2013 SN Genotypes 50% tasseling (days) 50% silking (days) ASI (days) Plant height (cm) Ear height (cm) Disease Score (1-5) Grain yield (kg/ha) 1 KKT-03 140 145 5 153 59 2 2183 2 KKT-14 124 130 6 153 64 2 3018 3 KKT-Pop 124 130 6 177 74 2.5 6594 4 MGU-03 116 125 9 123 54 2 2666 5 MGU-08 119 124 5 111 47 3 2634 International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 38 6 MGU-15 119 121 2 118 54 2 1927 7 MGU-Pop 107 111 4 149 67 2 2952 8 Dolmu Pop 106 113 7 145 61 2.5 2733 9 Jumka Pop 107 111 4 147 73 2 2432 10 Karnali 105 109 4 134 71 2 2910 Pool Yellow 11 Karnali Pool White 116 122 6 148 77 2.5 3173 12 Pool-17 116 122 6 144 54 2.5 2746 13 Ganesh-1 116 121 5 215 118 3 5060 14 DLP-01 104 106 2 140 40 2 1555 15 DLP-14 102 108 6 150 55 2 3141 16 HML-Pop 104 109 5 148 58 2.5 2615 17 JML-27 114 119 5 130 48 2 2808 18 JML-30 107 111 4 141 61 2 4271 19 JML-32 111 116 5 123 47 2 2779 20 JML-Pop 109 114 5 119 51 2 2467 21 KKT-02 140 145 5 104 52 1.5 2891 22 DLP-16 112 116 4 157 68 2 2728 23 DLP-Pop 99 104 5 128 73 2 3052 24 HML-04 99 102 3 114 36 1.5 1391 25 HML-08 109 113 4 102 35 2.5 1850 26 HML-28 98 102 4 129 44 3 2336 Grand mean 112 117 5 139 59 2.2 2881 CV% 10.45 9.4 24.2 15.5 23. 4 22.4 13.5 F test * * * * ns ns * ns = non-significant at 5% level of significance, * = Significant at 5% level of significance International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 39 Table 2. Grain yield and agronomic traits of maize genotypes evaluated at Tallo Lorpa (Site 1), Jumla district during spring season of 2012 and 2013. SN Genotypes 50% tasseling (days) 50% silking (days) ASI (days) Plant height (cm) Ear height (cm) Disease Score (1-5) Grain yield (kg/ha) 1 KKT-03 132 136 4 169 77 2.5 5326 2 KKT-14 145 153 8 182 104 2 5466 3 KKT-Pop 140 145 5 173 88 2.5 3972 4 MGU-03 122 126 4 164 88 2.5 3322 5 MGU-08 121 125 4 173 68 2 4278 6 MGU-15 125 128 3 153 81 2 1339 7 MGU-Pop 102 107 5 145 63 2 4496 8 Dolmu Pop 107 111 4 145 72 2 3795 9 Jumka Pop 124 128 4 187 98 2.5 3792 Karnali Pool 123 127 4 129 71 2 10 Yellow 4540 11 Karnali Pool 126 130 4 128 57 2 4052 White 12 Pool-17 122 126 4 104 42 2.5 3235 13 Ganesh-1 140 145 5 184 77 2.5 6210 14 DLP-01 104 109 5 111 51 2 1705 15 DLP-14 109 114 5 133 62 3 3942 16 HML-Pop 109 114 5 154 82 2 3698 17 JML-27 111 113 2 176 90 2 3171 18 JML-30 109 113 4 173 75 2 6203 19 JML-32 109 113 4 115 46 2.5 2275 20 JML-Pop 144 147 3 127 85 2.5 3071 21 KKT-02 157 162 5 178 97 2.5 3088 22 DLP-16 107 113 6 119 57 2.5 3868 23 DLP-Pop 102 107 5 130 71 2.5 3760 24 HML-04 102 109 7 120 38 2 2723 25 HML-08 107 113 6 133 70 2.5 4066 International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 40 26 HML-28 107 113 6 135 66 2.5 2131 Grand mean 119 124 5 148 72 2.3 3751 CV% 10.7 10.3 26 15.1 22.9 12.9 34.11 F test * * * * ns * * ns = non-significant at 5% level of significance, * = Significant at 5% level of significance Table 3. Grain yield and agronomic traits of maize genotypes evaluated at Tallo Lorpa (Site 2), Jumla district during spring season of 2012 and 2013. SN Genotypes 50% tasseling (days) 50% silking (days) ASI (days) Plant height (cm) Ear height (cm) Disease Score (1-5) Grain yield (kg/ha) 1 KKT-03 114 119 5 118 65 2 2697 2 KKT-14 109 115 6 136 45 2 3373 3 KKT-Pop 117 123 6 146 44 2.5 2659 4 MGU-03 109 117 8 99 43 2 2811 5 MGU-08 111 117 6 122 36 2.5 3535 6 MGU-15 109 115 6 100 38 2 1493 7 MGU-Pop 111 116 5 130 44 2 1648 8 Dolmu Pop 109 115 6 116 44 2 2179 9 Jumka Pop 109 117 8 134 39 2 3169 10 Karnali Pool 113 119 6 92 43 2 2563 Yellow 11 Karnali Pool 113 119 6 131 33 2.5 2952 White 12 Pool-17 118 123 5 123 32 2.5 2659 13 Ganesh-1 115 122 7 148 38 2.5 3221 14 DLP-01 104 111 7 147 53 2 2070 15 DLP-14 109 115 6 149 51 2 1700 16 HML-Pop 113 119 6 137 46 2.5 2336 17 JML-27 111 116 5 144 48 2 2666 18 JML-30 113 119 6 144 38 2 1264 19 JML-32 109 117 8 142 47 2 3642 International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 41 20 JML-Pop 109 114 5 119 44 2 3388 21 KKT-02 107 113 6 137 46 1.5 2846 22 DLP-16 107 112 5 156 46 2 1755 23 DLP-Pop 111 115 4 125 48 2 2400 24 HML-04 109 115 6 122 43 1.5 2438 25 HML-08 111 117 6 136 46 2.5 2207 26 HML-28 109 114 5 131 41 3 2036 Grand mean 111 117 6 130 44 2.1 2527 CV% 3.2 1.9 19.7 27.02 11.7 19.3 22.5 F test * * * ns ns * * ns = non-significant at 5% level of significance, * = Significant at 5% level of significance Table 4. Mean of the gain yield and agronomic traits of maize genotypes evaluated at Jumla district (Bijaynagar and Tallo Lorpa) during spring season of 2012 and 2013. SN Genotypes 50% tasseling (days) 50% silking (days) ASI (days) Plant height (cm) Ear height (cm) Disease Score (1-5) Grain yield (kg/ha) 1 KKT-03 128.67 133.33 4.67 146.7 67 2.16 3392 2 KKT-14 126 132.67 6.67 157 71 2 3952 3 KKT-Pop 127 132.67 5.67 165.3 68.7 2.5 4408 4 MGU-03 115.67 122.67 7 128.7 61.7 2.16 2933 5 MGU-08 117 122 5 135.3 50.3 2.5 3913 6 MGU-15 117.67 121.33 3.67 123.7 57.7 2 1587 7 MGU-Pop 106.67 111.33 4.67 141.3 58 2 3032 8 Dolmu Pop 107.33 113 5.67 135.3 59 2.16 2902 9 Jumka Pop 113.33 118.67 5.33 156 70 2.16 3131 10 Karnali Pool Yellow 113.67 118.33 4.67 118.3 61.7 2 3402 11 Karnali International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 42 Pool White 118.33 123.67 5.33 135.7 55.7 2.33 3482 12 Pool-17 118.67 123.67 5 123.7 42.7 2.5 2880 13 Ganesh-1 123.67 129.33 5.67 182.3 77.7 2.66 4830 14 DLP-01 104 108.67 4.67 132.7 48 2 1776 15 DLP-14 106.67 112.33 5.67 144 56 2.33 2928 16 HML-Pop 108.67 114 5.33 146.3 62 2.33 2883 17 JML-27 112 116 4 150 62 2 2882 18 JML-30 109.67 114.33 4.67 152.7 58 2 3338 19 JML-32 109.67 115.33 5.67 126.7 46.7 2.16 2899 20 JML-Pop 120.67 125 4.33 121.7 60 2.16 2975 21 KKT-02 134.67 140 5.33 139.7 65 1.83 2941 22 DLP-16 108.67 113.67 5 144 57 2.16 2784 23 DLP-Pop 104 108.67 4.67 127.7 64 2.16 3071 24 HML-04 103.33 108.67 5.33 118.7 39 1.66 2184 25 HML-08 109 114.33 5.33 123.7 50.3 2.5 2708 26 HML-28 104.67 109.67 5 131.7 50.3 2.83 2168 Grand Mean 114.21 119.36 5.15 138.8 58.4 2.2 3053 CV,% 7.6 7.3 24.5 14.1 23.5 12.3 28.2 LSD0.05 14.24 14.28 2.06 32.07 22.52 0.445 1412.6 F-test ** ** ns * ns ** * ns = non-significant at 5% level of significance, * = Significant at 5% level of significance, ** = significant at 1% level of significance The genotypes were found significant (P< 0.05) for grain yield. These results are in line with those of Kunwar and Shrestha (2014), Shrestha (2016) and Prasai et al. (2015) who reported significant differences among maize cultivars for grain yield.Other traits namely disease score, days to 50% tasseling and silking were highly significant (P< 0.01) where as plant height significant and ear height and ASI were non significant. Difference in days to tasseling and silking among maize genotypes were also observed by Prasai et al. (2014), Dhakal et al. (2017) and Kunwar et al. (2014). Result of combined analysis over year showed that there was highly significant (P< 0.01) influence of genotypes on days to tasseling and days to silking. Hussain et al. (2011) reported differential pattern of maize varieties for plant height. Ear height was significant for genotypes that results get sufficient validation from the findings of Nazir et al. (2010) and International Journal of Applied Biology, 3(2), 2019 43 Ahmad et al. (2011). Grain yield was significant and this results was similar to the results were reported by Akbar et al. (2009) who evaluated and identified high yielding maize varieties among different genotypes tested. The reason for differences in grain yield among the maize genotypes under different locations was due to their variation in their genetic makeup. The grain yield of maize is the most important and complex quantitative character controlled by numerous genes. The gain yield of maize under different environment conditions may be due to both environmental and genetic effect. Different researchers have reported significant amount of variability in different maize populations including top-crosses and open pollinated varieties (Sampoux et al., 1989). These results are in line with those of Grzesiak (2001), who also observed considerable genotypic variability among various maize genotypes under different location. Conclusions The study showed variation for almost all the traits studied among the maize genotypes, which is an indication of the presence of sufficient variability and can be exploited through selection. The highest grain yield was one of the basic criteria for identifying superior varieties. The genotypes KKT-POP, KKT-03, KKT-14, MGU-08, Ganesh-1, Karnali Pool White and Karnali Pool Yellow were found superior in their grain yield potentiality in Jumla district. So these maize genotypes were found suitable genotypes for Karnali zone of Nepal. Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Agricultural Research Station (ARS), Jumla for providing experimental fields at Jumla. Nepal Agricultural Research Council was highly acknowledged for research funding. References Ahmad, S.Q., Khan, S., Ghaffar, M. & Ahmad, F. 2011. Genetic Diversity Analysis for Yield and Other Parameters in Maize (Zea mays L.) Genotypes. Asian J. Agric. Sci., 3(5): 385- 388. 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