Yield performance and farmers' responses to corn composite varieties in Pandeglang Regency, Banten Province

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine yield performance and farmers' preference to the Lamuru composite corn variety planted with the application of corn Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and non Integrated Crop Management (non-ICM). The study was conducted in Kadumadang Village of Pandeglang Regency on a dry land agro-ecosystem in February-May 2020. The composite corn variety used was the Lamuru variety. Data was gathered using direct observation of agronomic performance and production with 10 replications. The agronomic data observed were plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, 50% flowering age, cob length, cob diameter, number of rows per cob, 100 grains weight, stover weight, cob weight and dry seeds weight. Interviews and questionnaires were conducted to determine farmers' preference to the Lamuru variety performance. Quantitative data was analyzed statistically and qualitative data was analyzed descriptively. From the result, the growth of corn ICM was higher than non-ICM. It resulted in a higher productivity of corn ICM (9.27 t/ha) compared to non-ICM (6.68 t/ha) significantly. Furthermore, farmers gave a fairly high response to the performance of Lamuru variety through the application of corn ICM and non-ICM, respectively at 79.95% and 72.52%.