Status, prospect and problems of hybrid maize ( Zea mays L.) in Nepal: a brief review
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REVIEW
Status, prospect and problems of hybrid maize (Zea mays L.) in Nepal: a brief review Bishnu Prasad Kandel
Received: 6 May 2020 / Accepted: 21 September 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Although maize being the second most important staple crop of Nepal after rice in term of area and production, its productivity is very low as compared to other develop nation. Unavailability of location specific maize hybrids might be one of the major causes of low productivity. Hybrid yields 20–30% more than open pollinated variety. National Maize Research Program (NMRP), Rampur, has registered and released seven maize hybrids but they are not suitable for all agro-climatic region of Nepal. This paper was prepared after intensive review of all the information obtained from all available resources i.e. journal article, NMRP and Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) annual report, book, proceeding as well as electronic sources. Hybrid maize covers only 10% of total maize area of Nepal. High price of hybrid seed, a wide gap in anthesissilking interval, poor seed set, difficulties in early generation lines, untimely availability of inputs (irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides etc.), requirement for seed replacement in every season and high irrigation are the major problems associated with hybrid maize cultivation in Nepal. So, in order to increase the productivity of hybrid maize which will ultimately raise the economic standard of farmers, the emphasis must be
B. P. Kandel (&) Department of Plant Breeding, Post Graduate Program, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal e-mail: [email protected]
given on hybrid maize research and development that suit to all agro-climatic region of Nepal. Keywords Hybrid development Maize research Yield potential Zea mays
Introduction Maize is the second most important staple crop after rice in terms of area and production in Nepal (Kandel et al. 2017; Kandel et al. 2018a, b; MoAD 2017/18). At present, the maize sown area in Nepal is 954,158 ha with a total production of 2,555,847 metric tons and productivity of 2.67 t ha-1 (MoAD 2017/18). It contributes about 25.02% of total cereal production, 6.88% in Agriculture Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and 3.15% in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Pandey and Basnet 2018; MoAD 2014/15). Hybrid maize covers about 80 and 10% of total maize production in terai and mid hills (Adhikari 2018). Out of total maize cultivated area 92.00% area is covered by improved maize and 8.00% area by local maize (MoAD 2015/16). In hilly area, it is a traditional crop cultivated as food and fodder on Bari land (rainfed upland) and is also grown as rainfed single crop or relayed with millet during summer. In the plains, it is grown as rabi maize and spring maize with irrigation (Sapkota and Pokhrel 2010).
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Genet Resour Crop Evol
Demand of maize is increasing due to emerging poultry industry (Dhakal et al. 2015; Ghimire et al. 2018) however productivity of maize
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