Abstract
A study was conducted between the months of April to August 2019 to ascertain the DNA concentration, incidence of army worm, growth and yield performance of selected maize genotypes to single and compound based fertilizers in Calabar, Nigeria. Three maize genotypes namely Oba super 6, hybrid yellow maize and the local white maize; three fertilizer types including single (urea) and compound fertilizers (NPK) were used for the study. The experiment was laid out in the field adopting the Randomized Complete Block design (RCBD). The results showed that all the maize genotypes used for the experiment performed significantly well in terms of the growth and yield traits evaluated. The concentration of the total genomic DNA in the maize genotypes varied significantly with the hybrid yellow maize genotype having the highest concentration of total genomic DNA of 76.9 ng/ul compared to the local white maize genotype which had the least concentrations of total genomic DNA of 34.4 ng/ul. Hence in the hierarchy in genomic DNA concentrations was: hybrid yellow maize > Oba super 6 > local white maize genotype. Similarly, in terms of the growth attributes evaluated for which were plant height, internode length, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and number of leaves per plant, hybrid yellow maize > Oba Super 6 > local white maize while urea > NPK > Single Super Phosphate (SSP). For the yield attributes, hybrid yellow maize > Oba Super 6 > local white maize while SSP > NPK > Urea in terms of fruit yield. The results further showed that all the treatments differed significantly from the control (P< 0.05) with compound fertilizer significantly reducing the number of holes (incidence) counted on the leaves and stems of army worm compared to single fertilizers. The results revealed that the maize varieties were more influenced by adequate single fertilizer application in terms of the growth and fruit yield. Also for the consumption of superior quality maize genotype, the hybrid yellow maize with high genomic DNA should be used as breeding stock for increased and improved yield and quality of maize crop as well as ensuring food security for the nation.