Drought-tolerant maize genotypes belonging to two different maturity (10 early and 10 intermediate) groups were
evaluated for yield and other related characters in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria for two years (2009 and
2010). The differences among genotypes between and within maturity groups differed significantly (P<0.01) for
grain yield, plant height, days to anthesis and silk. The effects of year x maturity group and year x maturity within
group interactions were highly significant (P<0.01) only for grain yield. The rainfall patterns were favourable in
both cropping years with comparable values of growth parameters. Intermediate maturing genotypes (TZL COMP1- W C6 F2, SUWAN-1-SR-SYN, TZB-SR, OBA SUPER I, EV 8435-SR) out-yielded early maturing ones with yield
advantage of 34.29% and taller by 17.04% compared to early ones. However, early genotypes were early to
anthesis with 6.57% advantage over intermediate genotypes. Four early genotypes (DMR-ESR Y CIF2, AC 90
POOL 16 DT, STR, TZE-W DT STR C4 and ACR 95TZE COMP4 C3) were superior for grain yield withn a range of
4.39 to 4.68 t ha-1
. These genotypes could be selected either as parental breeding cultivars to overcome the
problem of moisture stress during the later part of the cropping season or introgressed with favourable cultivars for
high yield adaptable to drought-prone areas in the SGS agro-ecology.
Key words: Maize yield, early genotypes, intermediate genotype