Growth and Yield Performance of Early Maturing Maize Cultivars as Influenced by Different NPK Fertilizer in Kabba, Kogi State, Nigeria

The experiment was carried out for two consecutive growing seasons (2016 and 2017) at the Research Site of Agronomy Section, College of Agriculture, Kabba to evaluate the growth and yield performance of early maturing maize cultivars as influenced by different NPK fertiliser in Kabba, Kogi State, Nigeria. The experiment was a split plot in a randomised complete block design with three replicates. The main plot treatments were the compoundfertilizer, and the subplot treatments were the four maize cultivars. Data were collected from fifteen randomly selected plants in each plot. Data were taken on the basis of agronomic traits such as on plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches, stem girth, leave the area, number of seeds per pod and number of seeds per cob. All the data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the significance of variations among the treatments and means were separated using Least Significance Difference (LSD) test at 5% level of probability. From the result of the experiment, the following conclusions were drawn: The early maturing cultivar performed significantly better than the local cultivar (gorogoro) in both growth and yield. Among the early maturing cultivar planted, sammaz 39 recorded the highest yield. Plots with fertiliser application recorded better growth and yield compared to the no fertiliser plots irrespective of the fertiliser used. Among the compound fertilisers, plots with NPK 15-15-15 showed greater growth and yield performance in this experiment. Farmers in the study area should plant sammaz 39 and amend the soil with NPK 15-15-15 fertiliser for optimum yield of maize.