On-farm Demonstration and Evaluation of Quality Protein Maize (Zea mays L.) in Central Zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Maize is one of the crops which play a significant role in improving food and nutritional (protein) security of resource poor households. The study was conducted to familiarize farmers with improved maize production technologies and assess farmers’ perception on improved maize variety. The project was implemented at Merebleke, Adwa, Ahforom and Tahtay Maychew districts of Central zone, Tigray during 2019/ 2020 production year. A total of sixty beneficiary farmers were participated in this demonstration. Melkasa 6Q and one local check were demonstrated on 0.125 to 0.25 hectare depending on the availability of land. The result of the non-parametric test: (1-tailed) Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test showed statistically significant grain yield difference between Melkasa-6Q and local cultivar. The perception data also showed the yield attributes of the improved variety such as cob size, number of ears per plant, earliness to maturity, seed uniformity, tolerance to moisture stress and grain yield was better for Melkasa 6Q than the local cultivar. Therefore, the new variety should be further promoted to large number of farmers under wider areas of similar agro ecologies.