EFFECT OF NON-IRRIGATED WATER STRESS ON MORPHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF HYBRID MAIZE VARIETIES

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Crop Physiology and Ecology Research Field of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during December, 2017 to May, 2018 to study the morpho-physiological characteristics and yield performance of hybrid maize varieties under nonirrigated water stress condition. The experiment consisted of two factors: (i) Two growing conditions, viz; well water and water stress. (ii) Four hybrid maize varieties, viz; BARI hybrid maize-7, BARI hybrid maize-9, BARI hybrid maize13 and BARI hybrid maize-15. There were eight treatment combinations and the experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The interaction effect of water regimes and maize varieties significantly influenced number of green leaf at dry silk stage, length of leaf blade, length of leaf sheath, plant height, relative leaf water content, leaf chlorophyll content, tassel length, number of cobs plant-1 , cob length, cob diameter, single cob weight, number of seeds cob-1 , seed weight cob-1 , 100-seed weight as well as grain yield. BARI hybrid maize-15 produced the maximum grain yield at both well water and water stress condition (11.89 t ha-1 and 10.96 t ha-1 , respectively). On the contrary BARI hybrid maize-9 produced the minimum grain yield (10.32 t ha-1 and 9.12 t ha-1 , respectively). Water stress exerted advarses effect all the on morphological, physiological and yield contributing characters in maize but the magnitude of reduction was not similar to all varieties. BARI hybrid maize-15 performed relatively better performance under non-irrigated water stress condition compared to other three varieties. However, the order of drought tolerance based on grain yield was BARI hybrid maize-15 > BARI hybrid maize-7 > BARI hybrid maize-13 > BARI hybrid maize-9.