Abstract:
Maize is a staple food and a source of carbohydrates to a large proportion of people in Kenya. The
performance of crop plants such as maize depends on a number of factors such as climate, soil
characteristics and plant species. The maturity parameters such time to tassel, milk stage,
physiological maturity and biological maturity are consequently affected which in turn has an
influence on crop performance. A study was carried out at University of Embu Demonstration Farm
that lies at 03° 30 ′ S latitude, 37° 30 ′ E longitude, and altitude 1480 m above sea level, soils being
Humic Nitisols. To evaluate the effects of seasonal weather variability on maturity parameters of
DK8031 maize, a CRBD in a split plot experimental arrangement was set up in which four irrigation
levels (I) and five nitrogen fertilizer rates (N) were allocated the main and subplot treatments in two
seasons, respectively. The results revealed that the irrigation levels and nitrogen rates significantly (P<0.05) affected the time to reach the 50% tasseling, 50% milk stage and 50% physiological
maturity, ranging from 69 to 73, 99 to 107 and 128 to 140 days after planting, respectively. In all
cases, Season I (cool and less rainfall, 530.3 mm) crop took longer to reach any the three
developmental stages, compared to Season II (warm and more rainfall = 605.6 mm). The time
variation in reaching the developmental stages was attributed to the seasonal weather conditions.
Farmers can opt to plant their maize crop in Season II to take advantage of the shorter period the
crop takes to mature.
