The Bioscientist (May 2022)
EFFECT OF NICOSULFURONAT DIFFERENT APPLICATION TIME ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.)
Abstract
Wrong timing of the application of herbicides, especially the post emergence ones could be very injurious as it might affect the grain size and yield or even kill the desirable plants or crops. Therefore, a field study was carried out in 2019 and 2020 rainy seasons to determine the effect of nicosulfuron at different periods of application on the growth and yield of maize. Theexperiment was laid out on a split plot design replicated three times. The treatments comprised of three (3) periods of herbicide application (3, 5 and 7 weeks after sowing) which were laid on the main plot; and four concentrations of nicosulfuron (50, 100, 150 and 200 g/ha) and two controls (unweeded and hand hoe weeding) laid on the sub-plots. The results indicated that the different concentrations of nicosulfuron had no statistical significant difference against the growth parameters of maize studied; however, the 3, 5 and 7 WAS periods of herbicide application had significant effect on virtually all the growth parameters with 5 WAS recording the significantly highest of plant height (119.04 cm), crop growth rate (0.81 g/m2/wk), relative growth rate (0.09 g/g/wk) and net assimilation rate (0.005 gcm2/wk); while 3 WAS period recorded the lowest estimates of most of the growth parameters. On the yield parameters, the different concentrations of nicosulfuron and their periods of application both had significant effects with 3 WAS having the highest estimates for most yield parametersstudied,while application of herbicide at 5 WAS had the lowest values for most yield parameters. Therefore, for less plant injury, 5 WAS application period of nicosulfuron especially at concentration 100 – 200 g/hawas the most appropriate; while for higher yield and yield attributes, application of nicosulfuron was most effective at 3 WAS.
