20. Phenology and growth traits response of maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes to semi-arid conditions
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Abstract
Erratic rainfall and extreme weather have put the maize crop at risk in semi-arid regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan in the recent past. To this extent a field experiment was carried out to identify tolerance of maize genotypes to semi-arid conditions at different growth stages of crop development. Eight maize genotypes (8003-4*66211, Babar, Azam, Iqbal, Jalal, Pahari, Pop-2009, and Sarhad White) were screened in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) Design with three replications. Significant variations were found for days to 50% silk emergence, days to 50% tasseling, anthesis silking interval (ASI), plant height (cm), tassel length (cm), and number of plants plot-1. The genotype 8003-4*66211 was best for all the studied traits followed by Pop-2009 and Babar. Keeping in view the results of this study, it is concluded that genotype 8003-4*66211 delayed taselling and silking and reduced ASI under water limiting conditions and therefore, is recommended to be grown under semi-arid conditions while fulfilling the required agronomic practices.
Keywords: Maize genotypes; Phenology; Taselling; Silking; Semi-arid conditions