POTENTIAL OF MAIZE (Zea mays) YIELD IN THE SAVANNA OF KANO STATE, SEMI-ARID REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the Savanna agro-ecologies potential of maize yield in Kano State. Field experiment consisted of five different fertilizer treatments namely were replicated three times in a Randomized Complete Block Design. The trial was established at three different locations namely: Doguwa (Northern Guinea Savanna), Bunkure (Sudan Savanna 2) and Dambatta (Sudan Savanna1) with a total of fifteen treatments(Five fertilization for three locations). White maize hybrid cultivar (SC651) was planted at 25cm and 75cm intra plants and inters ridges respectively. The results showed that highest maize yield potential was in the Northern Guinea Savanna with mean yield of 4.284 t/ha while lowest in the Sudan Savanna 1 with mean yield of 1.927 t/ha. Fertilization using Nutrients Expert (NE) has the highest maize yield while lowest maize yield of was observed in Regional Recommendation (RR) fertilization in all the three locations. It further revealed that there is significant maize yield difference between Doguwa (NGS), Bunkure (SS2) and Dambatta (SS1) with p value <0.001 at 0.05 significant level.