Masters of Science

URI for this collectionhttps://rps.wku.edu.et/handle/987654321/9

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    EFFECT OF PLANTING DATES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.) VARIETIES AT EZHA DISTRICT, GURAGE ZONE, CENTRAL ETHIOPIA
    (WOLKITE UNIVERSITY, 2024-05) DINO NASIR MOHAMED
    Planting dates is a critical factor in maize production decision-making, with implications for crop management, variety selection, and adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Afield experiment was conducted to study the effect of planting date on growth and yield of maize varieties. The experiment was conducted in Ezha district during the 2023 main cropping season. The treatments consisted of factorial combinations of four maize varieties (BH540, BH661, Shone, and Limu) and four planting dates (9-April, 19-April, 29-April, and 9-May) laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)with three replications. The experiment's findings demonstrated that planting dates and varieties had a significant impact on most parameters examined. However, varieties had no effect on the number of days to anthesis and silking. The statistical analysis result revealed that, Limu variety interacted with the planting date of 9-April, resulted, the longest days to anthesis silking interval (11.67), the largest number of ears per plant (1.40), the highest thousand kernel weight (410), the highest above-ground dry biomass (13.93 kg ha-1), and the highest grain yield (6.71 t ha-1) of maize. Similarly, the planting date 9-May interacted with the same variety, resulted the longest days to anthesis silking interval (11.67). The variety Limu resulted in the highest days to maturity (170), ear length (16.63 cm), ear diameter (16.08 cm), and harvest index (43.92). Similarly, Variety BH661 resulted in the highest ear height (101.45), longest days to emergence (9.08 days), longest days to anthesis (95.58 days), and longest days to silking (103.17); beside, the highest plant height (238.97cm), and the highest number of rows per ear (16.40) recorded from variety shone. Conversely, the planting date of 9-April yielded the longest days to maturity (161.75), the highest number of kernels per row (35.56 cm), the highest ear height (84.93 cm), the longest ear length (17.61 cm), the longest ear diameter (17.74 cm), and the highest harvest index (42.05%). Likewise, the planting date of 9-May recorded the longest day to emergence (9.5), the longest day to anthesis (98.67), and the longest days to silking (107.83). Thus, based on the result, early planting on April 9 resulted in the highest grain yield (6.7 t ha-1) from the Limu variety, whereas the lowest grain yield (1.65 t ha-1) was recorded from the BH540 late planted on May 9. Therefore, variety Limu with early planting date (April 9) was recommended for maize production in the study area. However, the experiment was done only at one location and one season; therefore, it would have to be replicated across locations and seasons to get the best conclusive result and a sound full recommendation for a specific area in order to assure the findings of the current study.