Evaluation of Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties for Moisture Stress Areas

Maize is priority crop to farmers because it is a stable food in many rural communities of southern region. It is widely grown in the various parts of southern region from lowland to mid-highlands. On other hand, moisture stress is one the most critical production constraints of maize in low to intermediate agro-ecology. Thus, developing maize varieties tolerant to moisture is of paramount important in order to sustain maize production in moisture areas. In this content, field experiments were conducted during 201617 cropping at Kindo Koyisha and Humbo with objective to select adaptable maize varieties for moisture stress with reasonable grain yield. Treatments used in this study were eight maize varieties (BH546, BH547, Gibe II, MH130, Melkasa IV, MH140, Melkasa II and Melkasa 6Q) and three local cultivars (Local red, Local mixed and Local white) of total of eleven maize genotypes were evaluated at two moisture prone areas in southern Ethiopia. Treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Maize varieties exhibited difference performance at two tested locations. Varieties had relatively superiority of performance Kindo Koyisha as compared to Humbo. At Humbo varieties MH140, MH130 BH546 and Melkasa IV gave relatively higher grain yield. At Kindo Koyisha maize varieties expressed relatively better performance with respect to grain yield. At this location varieties with superior performance with sounding grain yield were BH546, MH140, BH547 and MH130. Based on this result BH546, MH140 and MH130 could be used at both locations. Moreover, BH547 at Bale and Melkasa IV at Humbo also could used to respective locations for production. Keywords: Maize varieties, moisture stress, DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/91-01 Publication date:October 31st 201