Influence of Age at Transplanting on the Growth and Yield Performance of Maize Transplants

Abstract

Suboptimal plant population had been fingered as a major reason for low yield in maize production. This problem arises from poor germination due to poor seed viability caused by poor storage, unfavourable weather and field pests amongst other factors. Similarly, unstable weather had made it near impossible to predict the optimum planting date in the tropics. It has thus become very imperative to experiment with alternative methods of plant establishment for enhanced maize production in the tropics. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate transplanting as a method of field establishment for maize in Ogbomoso, South West Nigeria. The treatments; transplanting at 1 week after planting (WAP), 2 WAP and 3 WAP were compared with the control, direct seeding, in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Management practices were carried out as prescribed for standard maize production. Result showed that transplanted maize compared significantly (P=0.05) with the direct seeded control with respect to the growth parameters. The tallest plant (2.0 m) obtained from direct sowing was not superior to one-week transplant (1.8 m) and two-week transplant (1.7 m). The largest leaf area (1136 cm2) obtained from 2 WAP transplant was also not superior to 1134 cm2, 1117 cm2 and 1129 cm2 from 1 WAP, 3 WAP and direct sowing, respectively. Direct sowing produced plants with thickest stem (3.2 cm) which was however not significantly (P=0.5) different from those of other treatments. Maize yield was also not significantly (P=0.05) influenced by transplanting and age at transplanting. The higher yield (4469 kg/ha) obtained from 1 WAP transplants was not superior to 3686 kg/ha, 3515 kg/ha and 3627 kg/ha from 2 and 3 WAP transplants and direct sowing respectively. The implications of this finding in disused, it could therefore be concluded that maize production will benefit immensely from transplanting.