Economic and Yield Assessment of Maize Varieties Under Recommended and Double Plant Population Densities

摘要

Attempts have been made to increase maize productivity and yield in Nigeria by doubling the recommended population density under the same agronomic practices but with additional 50% increase in fertilizer application. However, the prevailing wage rates paid to farm labour, the market price of other inputs especially additional fertilizer and output will determine the benefit. The aim of this study was to assess the economic benefits of using double plant population density. Four maize varieties LNTP-W, BR9943-DMRSR, LNTP-Y and BR9928-DMRSR were tested under recommended population density (ND) of 53,333 plants/ha and double plant density (DD) of 106,666 plants/ha at Ilora and Ile-Ife out-stations of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IART), Nigeria in 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. Plant spacing of 75cm inter-row and 25cm intra-row was used for both ND and DD. The experiment was laid out on 3m by 3m plots in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Data on cost (input and labour) and yield were collected. The analytical techniques used was partial budgeting analysis which include Gross benefit (GB), Net Benefit (NB) and Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR). Yield performance result showed that at both locations, LNTP-W performed best under ND and DD followed by BR9943DMRSR. The result of partial budgeting showed that NB of LNTP-W was the highest under ND (N206,146) and DD (N152,724), followed by BR9943DMRSR (N169,894) under ND and (N121,242) under DD respectively. However, the BC ratio result showed that BR9943DMRSR maize variety was the most economic viable variety. Therefore, since BR9943DMRSR maize variety satisfied both the necessary and sufficient conditions for economic benefit feasibility for adoption by farmers under both normal and double plant population densities, it is recommended that this maize variety should be adopted by farmers for increased productivity. Also, mass production of this variety is encouraged by the research institute with the support of the government and made available through the extension agents for dissemination and adoption by farmers.