Performance of Drought-tolerant Varieties of Maize (Zea mays L.) under Water Deficit Stress Condition in the North Region of Cameroon

Abstract

Aims: The present study aimed to assess the performance of three drought-tolerant maize genotypes (DTSTRSYNY-2 (V1), WHITE DTSTRSYN (V2) and TZL COMP.4DTF2 (V3)) developed by IITA under water deficit stress conditions. Place and Duration of Study: Experiment was carried out at Sanguere-Paul in the Soudano-Sahelian agro-ecological zone, North region, Cameroon from September to December 2019. Methodology: Experimental design employed was the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) of 5 treatments corresponding to different maize varieties in 2 replicates. The drought-sensitive CMS 9015 (V4) and the drought-tolerant EVDT99 QPM W (V5) maize varieties performed by IRAD was used as negative and positive controls, respectively. For each maize variety, growth and production parameters were recorded alongside the experiment and grain yield was      calculated. Results: Results showed that the three drought-tolerant maize genotypes and the positive control maize variety assessed significantly exhibited a good performance under water stress condition regarding the growth and production traits registered compared to the negative control. Concerning growth parameters, the drought-tolerant maize varieties V1, V2 and V3 presented short anthesis-silking interval (1-1.5 day), good plant aspect, low number of dried leaves above ear (8-15 leaves) and less dead plants (1.25 -1.50 plant)compared to the controls. For V1, V2 and V3 drought-tolerant maize varieties, high yields of 3.24, 3.58 and 3.73 ton/ha, respectively, were obtained compared to the controls(1.13 ton/ha for the negative control V4 and 2.27 ton/ha for the positive control V5). Conclusion: Thus, the three drought-tolerant maize varieties showed good performance in the Soudano-Sahelian agro-ecological zone of Cameroon and should be adopted by farmers to increase and improve the maize production in the country, even under water deficit conditions.