Under the current scenario of farming with changing natural resource base,food habits,industrialisation,maize having adaptability across diverse soil and climatic conditions has emerged as an important crop for food and nutritional security and farm economy.Among all the cereals,the growth of maize production is highest (4.2%),which is much higher than the major crops (rice and wheat).Although there has been an increasing trend in area,production and productivity of maize,there exists wide gap between attainable and actual yields at farm level.Greater risks of abiotic stresses,inadequate and imbalance plant nutrition,improper agro-techniques and use of low yield potential genotypes are the major reasons for wide yield gaps across the agro-ecologies.There is a great variability in profitability (CV= 32%) and B:C ratio (CV=38%) in maize production across the states,which is associated with genotype,management and environmental factors.Being a crop with wide adaptability across the agro-environments and changing natural resources base,situation specific maize-based cropping systems with compatible genotypes and best management practices needs to be developed and disseminated at farm level to meet the growing demand of maize by different sectors.
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