Abstract
Field experiments were conducted on a site in the agricultural teaching and research farm of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology,Ogbomoso in the southern guinea savanna belt of Nigeria. The experiment investigated the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae (Nicholson and Gerdemann) on growth, development and yield of two improved short duration maize cultivars: cv ACR 89DMR ESRW designated A, AK.94DMR ESRY designated B and a local variety C. The maize plots were in factorial combination with mycorrhizal inoculation in a completely randomized block design with each treatment in three replicates. The maize plants sown, i.e. 20th August during two consecutive years. The days to attainment of various reproductive stages i.e. from tasseling through silking to mature cob formation were significantly lower (P>0.05) in inoculated than uninoculated in all maize types. Grain dry matter yield were higher in cultivars A and B than in the local variety C irrespective inoculation. Inoculation increased grain yield in all the maize types. Duration of growth cycle (i.e. days to 50% full grain maturity) was higher in C than in A and B irrespective of inoculation. Inoculation significantly reduced duration of growth cycle in all maize types thereby suggesting a potential for improvement of maize cultivation in the savanna by Glomus mosseae in the unpredictable second half of the rainy seasons.
Keywords: Glomus mosseae, Inoculation, Growth cycle, Dry matter yield, Duration of productive events.