Effect of climate on the growth and yield of maize cultivars (zea mays) in yola

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of climate on growth and yield of maize cultivars in greater Yola. To achieve this objectives an experimental farm was establish in teaching and research farm of department of crop production ModibboAdama University of Technology Yola, which is part of the study area and weather station is found adjacent to the farm was used collect the climatic data. The research involved planting three different maize cultivars namely: cultivar 1 (local maize) cultivar 2 (Admiral Maize) and cultivar3 (premier maize) respectively. These maize cultivars were all planted at the same time on the farm on the onset of rainfall in the study area. The experiment was conducted for one growing season (2011). Data were collected on climatic factors, soil characteristics and data on crop agronomy. Climatic data were collected from the meteorological stations of the ModibboAdama University of Technology, Yola, soil data was collected from the farm, while data on crop agronomy were collected from continuous observation of crop growth and yield performance. Data collected were analyzed using simple averages, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation coefficients as statistical analysis .Rainfall and relative humidity has significant correlation with the plant height (0.759), while maximum and minimum temperature showed a significant but negative correlation (0.780xx and -0.913). Stem diameter, leaf length correlates significantly with all the climatic elements.