Abstract
The experiment was conducted in 2020/2021 cropping seasons at the research farm of Federal University of Technology, Owerri with the objectives to evaluate the growth and yield performance of six maize genotypes in addition to determine the association between yield and yield components. The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in three replications. The maize genotypes included DMR-LSR-Y, Oba Super-2, Oba Super-4, DMR-SR-W, GSTEE-W and SammazA3. Seven agronomic traits were studied which are plant height (cm), days to 50% tasselling, days to 50% silking, cobs per plant, weight of cobs per plant, weight of 1000 seeds and grain yield (t/ha). The degree of variations observed for all the characters were high except number of cobs per plant. The results obtained indicated that SammazA3 was superior in four characters such as days to 50% tasselling, number of days to 50% silking, weight of 1000 seeds and grain yield (t/ha) followed by DMR-LSR-Y in plant height and weight of cobs per plant. The genotype Oba Super 2 gave greater number of cobs per plant. From the field results, three genotypes SammazA3, DMR-LSR-Y and Oba Super- 2 could be incorporated into breeding programs for production of hybrid varieties for the area. The result also showed a positive and significant correlation between plant height, number of cobs per plant and weight of 1000 seeds with grain yield (t/ha). Therefore, the three characteristics which included plant height, number of cobs per plant and weight of 1000 seeds could be used as selection indices for grain yield improvement in maize for the Owerri environs.