Maize in Nepal: Efforts in Improving Productivity for Food Security in Nepal
The National Maize Research Program (NMRP) under the Nepal Agricultural Research Council and supported by the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP) since 1999, develops and promotes improved, eco friendly and sustainable production technology to increase maize productivity and thereby, reduce food insecurity in Nepal. Maize varietal improvement is directed at OPVs for subsistence production systems in the hills, and at hybrids as commercial crop for the terai and inner terai areas. From multi-location on-station and on- farm participatory trials, three full-season maize genotypes (ZM-621, Pop 44 C10, Pop 45 C10) were rated as highly superior and the early/extra early cultivars Arun-4, pool-16, Pool-17 were rated as distinctly promising. A number of superior QPM OPVs and hybrids were also evaluated and promoted in farmers fields. These QPM genotypes differed significantly and consistently on grain yield compared with normal OPVs. Based on top cross performance, 12 and 17 S4 lines from Pool-21 and Upahar, respectively, were found superior with high general combining ability (GCA). Eighteen single cross yellow hybrids evaluated at various hill and terai-inner terai locations, were found distinctly superior with a productivity range of 7.61～9.39t/ha. All the respective inbreds of these hybrids performed well in the inner terai. The check cultivars for hybrids were: Rampur Composite, Pioneer 3056 and Gaurav, which produced grain yield of 5.44t/ha, 7.99t/ha and 9.0t/ha respectively. It is well known that hill farmers of Nepal did not have access to maize seeds of high yielding varieties (HYVs), and further, the incentive needed to attract the private sector in the hills is insufficient. Under these circumstances, the HMRP used the community-based seed production (CBSP) approach to produce a considerable amount of certified/improved seeds (300ton in 2004 for 2005 planting) at various difficult hill locations in the country. This is observed as a successful program which provided a reliable option for faster dissemination of HYV maize seed to a larger number of small-scale farmers. Maize + potato, maize + ginger and maize + groundnut intercropping and relaying bean, cauliflower and tomato with maize were found highly profitable. Adoptions of these location specific practices were found to be expanding among market-accessible areas. The current pressing challenge and associated risks to NMRP/HMRP are also discussed in this paper.
Productivity Community Based Seed Production Open Pollinated Variety Hybrids
K. Adhikari S. L. Maskey D. Sharma R. C. Ghimire S. R. Upadhyay R. K. Mahato
National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Nepal Director, Crops and Horti. Res., Nepal Agricultural Research Council
国际会议
第九届亚洲玉米大会(the Ninth Asian Regional Maize Workshop)
北京
英文
301-306
2005-09-05（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）