Abstract

Obed Amponsah Abrokwah, Augustine Antwi-Boasiako and Zechariah Effah

ABSTRACT

Article History Received: Oct’ 2017 Accepted: Dec’ 2017 A greenhouse experiment was conducted in November 2011 to January 2012 at the mechanization department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to determine the effects of drought stress on maize genotypes using some plant parameters. The soil used was sandy loam classified as Ferric Acrisols. Eight inbred lines and four varieties with different genetic backgrounds were used in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Two sets of the genotypes were established (water stress and non-stress conditions), of which one set received water up to the end of the experiment but with the other set water was withdrawn at six weeks after planting and resumed at ten days interval. Data were collected on plant height; leaf moisture content, dry matter yield, and root dry mass. Individual means of water-stressed genotypes were compared to their corresponding nonstress genotypes in a pairwise comparison analyses (t-test) and LSD was used to determine differences in treatment means at 5% probability level. Inbred line Tzeei 50 (Tropical Zea extra early inbred 50) showed no significant difference between the two water regimes in all the four indicators used, followed by the variety Aburohemaa which recorded three out of the four indicators used. The factors used for the ranking procedure proved to be effective indicators for the selection of drought-tolerant maize.