Varietal Evaluation and Clustering of Early Maize Genotypes in Mid-Western Hilly Region of Nepal Bishnu Prasad KANDEL 1* 1 Department of Plant Breeding, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur 44618, Nepal * corresponding author: bkandel33@gmail.com Bulletin UASVM series Agriculture 77(2) / 2020 Print ISSN 1843-5246; Electronic ISSN 1843-5386 DOI:10.15835/buasvmcn-agr: 2020.0014 Abstract Eleven early maize (Zea mays) genotypes were evaluated for their yield and yield component traits at the research block of Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) Lumle, Kaski, Nepal during Kharif season of 2016. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Results showed that all the studied genotypes differed significantly for grain yield as well as other yield component traits except number of kernel per row. Out of tested genotypes COMPOZ-NIPB, EEYC1, POP-445/POP-446 were three top performer genotypes yielding 6.89, 5.38 and 5.19 t ha -1 . Early mid Katamari, Rajahar local, Manakamana-5, EEYC1 were statistically at par with Arun-4(standard check) and will be needed further evaluation and improvement by a selection of desirable traits. Eleven genotypes occupied three different clusters and showed that early maize genotypes suggest considerable genetic diversity among themselves. Genotypes belong to cluster one having the highest yield potentials so need to be further evaluation in different location of mid hill and recommended best variety for that domain. Key words: early maize, grain yield, performance evaluation, cluster analysis INTRODUCTION Maize is the second most important staple cereal food in terms of area and production in Nepal (MoAD, 2017/18). At present, the maize sown area in Nepal is 9,24,321 ha with a total production of 23,36,675 MT and productivity of 2.53 t ha -1 (MoAD, 2017/18). Ranum et al. (2014) reported that 98 g/person/day was the per capita maize consumption in Nepal, that was the highest in South Asia. It is a principal food crop of the hilly farmers and source of animal feed for different feed industries in theTerai region of Nepal (KC et al., 2015). Maize is considered as Kharif season crop in the hilly and mountainous areas, but it can be successfully cultivated both kharif and rabi season in Terai and inner Terai. Early maize matures 15-25 days earlier than normal season maize. Generally, it’s mature 90-130 days after sowing allow growing of the short dura- tion crops like coriander, radish etc. which increase the cropping intensity as well as farmer income. The existing cropping patterns are maize-wheat, maize-barley, maize-potatoes, maize-fallow, rice- maize-maize, and farmers use a shorter duration of maize varieties to catch the winter crops. Early maize has only the option in rice-maize-maize sys- tem in the unirrigated land of terai. The adoption rate of improved maize varieties is low in eastern and western mid-hills than Terai (Gurung, 1999). It might be due to the longer duration of improved maize varieties which could not fit in the cropping pattern. Kunwar et al. (2014) also reported there are limited option of higher yielding early maize for maize growers which could suited to different cropping pattern. So, there is a need for improved early maize varieties that could fit in the cropping brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk