Response of maize genotypes to changing climatic conditions in Himalayan region

Abstract

Maize is a major cereal grown in upland regions of Himalayas especially, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya. These states are part of Zone 1 region of All India Co-ordinated Research Project of maize varietal testing of the country. This study aims to assess the change in trend of key traits viz., days to anthesis, days to silk and yield in checks which are used for at least eight years in a row in All India Co-ordinated Research Project of maize in northern hills region. On studying the effect of climate change in rainfall, a shift in peak of rainfall, reduction in peak of total rainfall during the rainiest months and low rainfall in the initial months of the maize crop season was observed. In maize hybrid ‘Seed Tech 2324’, days to anthesis and silk have decreased by 0.31 and 0.11 days per year, respectively, while in ‘Bio 9681’ days to anthesis and silk decreased by 0.27 and 0.07 days per year, respectively. Concomitently, there is an increase in yield by 0.29 per cent and 0.10 per cent per year. Over the years, the check genotypes showed change in days to anthesis, days to silk and yield suggesting the importance of crop genetic background in adaption. ‘Seed Tech 2324’ and ‘Bio 9681’ are more fit to climate change as compared to ‘HIM 129’ and ‘Surya’. Suitable genotypes like ‘Seed Tech 2324’ and ‘Bio 9681’ showed increase in yield in changing favourable conditions in Himalayan region.