EFFECTS OF CORN EARWORM (Helicoverpazea) ON THE YIELD OF SELECTED MAIZE (Zea mays L.) VARIETIES

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at Department of Crop Production nursery, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna main Campus, Gidan Kwano during the month of March to June 2016, to determine maize variety that are tolerant to infestation of maize earworm (Helicoverpazea). Four maize varieties (Across98, NoMa1212, Oba super II and Dangwari) were screened for resistance to maize earworm. The treatments were fitted into completely randomized design (CRD). Data such as, cob number, damage and grain weight were collected and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the SAS institute ( 2002-2003) version 9.1 with compatibility of 32 byte operating system. The result showed that the level of infestation of corn earworm differs among the four maize varieties with Across98 recorded less damage, cob number and higher number of grain weight, but on the other hand, Dangwari and NoMa1212 were noted to have greater damage, less number of cobs and less grain yield. Hence, Across98 and Oba super II maize varieties are recommended.