Agronomic performance, production components and agricultural productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars

Abstract

The rain fed crop is highly dependent on environmental conditions, and study aims to evaluate the 
agronomic performance, yield components and agricultural productivity of six maize cultivars in the 
region of the coastal tablelands of Alagoas State, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized 
complete block, with five replications and six treatments. Six maize cultivars, three varieties 
(Jaboatão, Batité and AL Bandeirante) and three hybrids (AG 7098, AG 7088 and AG 8677) were 
evaluated from June 8 to October 14, 2015. The experimental area of 2000 m2 (0.2 ha) was divided into 
six cultivation rows of seven meters linear portions; spaced 0.8 m between rows and 0.25 m between 
plants, totaling 50.000 plants ha-1. During the experiment, the following were evaluated: plant height, 
leaf area index (LAI), culm diameter and at the end of the experiment, the production components, 
agricultural productivity, water balance and the grains water content were determined. The highest 
grain yield was obtained by hybrid AG 8677 (4.2 t ha-1) followed by the AG 7098 (3.6 t ha-1), with an 
average of 3.0 t ha-1 for all cultivars. Variety AL Bandeirante achieved a productivity similar to that of 
hybrid AG 7088. The lowest productivities were verified by varieties Jaboatão (2.0 t ha-1) and Batité 
(2.2 t ha-1). However, these yields were statistically similar to that of variety AL Bandeirante. The 
maximum water excess during cultivation of maize was 504 mm. An increased productivity was shown 
by hybrid AG 8677, and the smallest of the range was the variety Jaboatão. The average productivity 
of the hybrids was 50% higher than that of the varieties.