Abstract

In early 2000, world population stood at 6.0 billion people. It was projected to reach 8.0 billion by 2025, a 33 percent increase only in 25 years. During that little period, little change in total arable land is available for food production. Due to these facts, maize production has been improved with adoption of technologies by farmers. These technologies includes; the planting of improved seeds like hybrid and open pollinated varieties, timely planting, proper spacing, timely weeding and harvesting. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to determine the evaluation of four varieties of maize for optimum growth and yield under field condition. The experiment was laid down in a Randomised Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three (3) replicates. Each block consisted of four (4) treatments. The treatments include: TZEE-Y POP STRC4, EV99QPM, 2000SynEE-W QPM C0 and 99TZEE-Y STR. The growth parameters evaluated include Leaf length, leaf width, plant height, number of nodes, Distance between nodes, Stem girth, Length of inflorescent, number of cob and Period it takes to tassel (days). Also the yield parameters were: Weight of cob, Weight of 100 Grains, and Number of grains per cob. The TZEE-Y POP STRC4 has the best potential for increased grain yield due to the fact that it has wide genetic base which enables it to perform well irrespective of soil and environmental difference. The said treatment is also resistant to a wide range of biotic and a biotic stress which makes it a variety of first choice to farmers especially in this period of climate change. Therefore, TZEE-Y POP STRC4 could be confirmed as a high yielding variety with stable vigour.