Maize occupies second position after rice in Nepal.It is a main staple food crop of more than 55% of the people of Nepal.It can be used as cattle feed and fodder also. Depending upon the altitude it is grown during winter, summer and rainy season.Although the major area is under rainy season crop and the productivity is higher in winter season crop. More than 80% of the maize is grown in hills (70% in mid hill and 10% in high hill) and about 20% in terai and inner terai region of Nepal.

1. Prepared by:
Santosh pathak (IAAS, Lamjung)

2. Introduction
 Maize occupies second position after rice in Nepal.
 It is a main staple food crop of more than 55% of the people of Nepal.
 It can be used as cattle feed and fodder also.
 Depending upon the altitude it is grown during winter, summer and rainy season.
Although the major area is under rainy season crop and the productivity is higher in
winter season crop.
 More than 80% of the maize is grown in hills (70% in mid hill and 10% in high hill)
and about 20% in terai and inner terai region of Nepal.
 There were 8,75,428 ha (with production of 19,30,669 tons) in 2008/09, which has
increased to 8,75,660 ha ( with production of 18,55,184 tons) in 2009/10.
 Maize covered about 25% area of cereal crop production.
 Seed releasing subcommittee of Nepal has recommended total 23 varieties of
improved maize upto 2010, but 7 varieties are denotified.

3. Climate requirements
 It is grown in between 50oN to 40oS upto an elevation of 4000 m.
 In Nepal, it can be successfully upto 9000ft.
 It is suited to warm or hot climates.
 It is grown in all seasons in tropical environments. It is grown in temperate region
during the summer season.
 Germination and growth are slow in low temperature.
 For emergence, it takes 20 days in 17-19oC and 5-6 days in 25oC average.
 Broadly the wholemaize area in nepal has been divided into three growing regions on
the basis of altitude such as:
oHigh altitude(Lekh) above 5000 ft
oMid hills 2500-5000 ft
oTerai,Inner terai and lower elevation 2500 ft

4. Soil requirements
Soil needs to possess sufficient moisture for maize growth and development.
 Seeds or seedling suffer from an excess of water or water logging (6-7 hours) in case of
poor drainage.
 Maize is a crop of upland or Bari where water does not stagnate.
 Well-drained loam or light loamy soils having more organic matter are most suitable
for maize.
 It is however grown in all types of soils.
 Maize needs a pH range of 5.5-8.

5. Land requirements
The selected field of maize should be free from volunteer maize plants and it should be
well drained and aerated also.
Field standards
i.Field inspection
 Generally, three inspection phases are practiced in maize. They are:
• Before tasseling
In this inspection phase maize plant is properly examine for its sound
vegetative growth obtained by proper inter cultural practices such as
fertilization , irrigation etc.
•Tasseling or flowering
In this phase proper moisture and nutrients should be provided and
tall plants should be detasseled before shedding.
•Cob examine
Cob should be examined to avoid any disorder in cob.
After field inspection, lab inspection is done to check:
•Varietal purity
•Inert material
•Off types and other
•Final moisture content before tagging
•Germination percent

6. ii. Isolation requirements
 Maize is generally cross-pollinated crop and pollinating agent is normally
wind.
 It should be prevent from foreign pollen contamination.
The foundation seed plot should be isolated by a minimum distance of
300m and certified seed plot by 200 m from plots of other varieties.
 Time isolation should be provided at least by two weeks between two
maize varieties.
iii. Varietal purity
The maximum permissible limit of off type plants that have shed or
shedding pollen is 1.0% in foundation and 2.0% in certified seed production
plot at any inspection during flowering when 5.0% or more of the plants
have receptive silks.
iv. Roguing
Maize being cross-pollinated crop, timely rouging is necessary to maintain
varietal purity.
Proper rouging should be done before flowering of seed crop to avoid
contamination due to out-crossing.
 Roguing of off type plants should be continued throughout flowering
period.

7. Cultural Practices
Land preparation
Prepare the land by giving one deep ploughing followed by 2-3 harrowing and
leveling to prepare desired tilth.
If necessary one pre sowing irrigation should be given before 1st ploughing.
Time of sowing
The time of sowing maize is differing from place to place.
 Maize can be sown two weeks before the onset of monsoon where
irrigation facility exists.
 It is generally sown from 3rd week of March (in khet land in mid hill) to
1st week of April in case of rainy season maize (in bari land).
 Seed production of maize is successful in terai in winter due to low
isolation problem and less incidence of disease and pest.
 Maize can be sown in Oct-Nov in terai.
Seed selection
Seed should be selected from the authorized agency with kinds and source approved
by seed certification agency.

8. Method of sowing
Spacing:75cm x 25cm row to row and plant-to-plant
 Sowing depth: 5-6cm.
 Generally maize is planted in behind the plough in Nepal.
Seed rate
16-20kg/ha is sufficient.
overplant by 15-20% to compensate for unfavorable condition.
55-60 thousand plants per ha at harvest would be needed to attain maximum
seed yield.
Fertilizer management
Fertilizer recommendation is based on soil analysis value from soil testing lab.
 Add 10-15 tons of well-rotted organic matter as FYM or compost.
One third N plus full P , K and Zn as basal dose and remaining 1/3rd at knee high
stage and another 1/3rd before tasseling.
Fertilizer Recommended dose(kg/ha)
N2 120-150
P2O5 50-60
K2O 40-50
ZnSO4 20-25

9. Water management
Maize is very sensitive to excess water and drought conditions.
So irrigate the field frequently and do not let the water stand in field more than
few hours by opening bunds or drainage channel.
 The most critical stage of maize are:
• Tasseling
• Silking
• Early grain filling
Intercultural operations
Timely weeding of maize is very important so 2-3 hoeing is done including
earthing up of the crop.
 Intercultivation should not be more than 3-5 cm deep so that roots are not
damaged. If weed problem is very high we can the herbicides as under:
Simazine (50%) or atrazine (50%) 1.5 kg a.i./ha in 1000 lit of water as pre
emergence soil application is recommended.
 After application do not disturb the soil for 4-5 weeks.

10. Plant Protection
If maize is produced during winter season, the field remains relatively free from
the insect pests and diseases.
 However in the summer they predominate and infest the crop heavily.
Apply the appropriate control measures as 0.05% Endosulfan, 0.1% Carbaryl or
0.05% Lindane to control insects and treat the seeds by using Bavistin or Thiram
or Captam @2-3gm/kg of seed or spray Mancozeb 75 WP@1.5kg + 0.25kg zinc
sulphate in 500 L of water per ha to control diseases.
Major Insects Major diseases
Stem borer Downy mildew
Pink borer Brown stripe
Shoot fly Bacterial stalk rot
Hairy caterpillers Pithium stalk rot
Army worms Leaf rust
Maize bettles Head smut
Hoppers Several types of kernel and ear rot
Leaf blight (Helminthosporium),

11. Harvesting
Maize comes under physiological maturity stage at about 30-35% moisture
content.
 If it can be drying efficiently, we can harvest at physiological maturity stage when
the husk turned yellow and grains are hard enough.
 In the absence of drying facility, harvesting is delayed until the grain moisture
drops down to 15% level.
Remove the husk from the cobs and then dry in sun for 7-8 days.
Shelling and cleaning
The seed-certifying agency requires an inspection of maize cobs before shelling.
 After drying, all off type and diseased cobs should be removed before shelling.
After approval from seed certifying authority the cobs should be shelled and
cleaned or processed.
Seed yield
Under average situation, the seed yield varies from 2.5-3.0 tons/ha.

12. Seed standard set by Government of Nepal
Minimum certification standards for maize
Maize seed must be produced from a known source of seed for
certification. One must be in a position to produce a document-like
tag or sale record when demanded by the certified body.
Certification applies only to those release varieties.
STIP is only authorized to certify the seed.
A variety may be eligible for certification if the fields were used to
produce the same variety of certified seed in previous seasons.
The crop should be planted in recommended isolation to check
out cropping.
A minimum of two field inspection should be made; the first at
tasseling and second at maturity.

13. Minimum seed standard
During the ear head inspection at the threshing floor upto one percent
cob of other varieties and two percent cob of other colours is allowed
for certification.
The seed inspector reserves the right to inspect the seeds, at any time,
at threshing floor, processing plant or during storage.
Seed need to be treated with the recommended fungicides and
insecticides.
A respective sample of each lot of seed should be taken and submitted
to seed testing laboratory for complete analysis by authorized seed
inspector. If an amount of seed produced is 40000 kg in a lot then
minimum amount of sample required for general test of seed is 1000 gm
and minimum amount of sample required for purity test is 900 gm.
Similarly for varietal test minimum amount of sample is 1000 gm.

14. Minimum seed testing standard:
Factors Foundation Seed Certified Seed
I II
Pure seed (minm) 99% 98% 97%
Other crop seed including
other varieties (maxm)
0.2% 0.5% 1%
Total inert matter (maxm) 2% 2% 2%
Weed seeds nil nil nil
Germination (minm) 85% 85% 85%
Moisture content (maxm) 12% 12% 12%

15. Tagging
Seed to be sold by an authorized dealer should carry the following identifications:
Validity of tagging:
Tagging will be valid only for one season if properly stored.
Seed Tag
Foundation seed White tag
Certified seed I Blue or blue band on one end
Certified seed II Green or green band on one
end
Fig.1) Foundation seed Fig.2) Certified seed I Fig.3) Certified seed II

16. Table:NARC certified maize varieties according to their domain
S.N. Varieties Certified Year Certified Domain
1. Khumal Yellow 2022 B.S. Mid hills
2. Rampur Composite 2032 B.S Terai, Inner terai, Basin and Mid hills
3. Arun 2 2039 B.S Terai, Mid hills
4. Manakamana 1 2044 B.S Mid hills ( Terai- winter)
5. Ganesh 2 2046 B.S High hills (Terai & Inner terai- winter)
6. Rampur 2 2046 B.S Terai, Inner terai, Basin and Tars
7. Arun 1 2052 B.S Western terai & Mid hills
8. Ganesh 1 2054 B.S High hills
9. Manakamana 3 2059 B.S Eastern, Central & Western Mid hills (1000-
1700 m)
10. Gaurav hybrid 2061 B.S Terai and Inner terai
11. Deuti 2063 B.S Midhills
12. Sital 2063 B.S Hills
13. Manakamana 4 2065 B.S Eastern to Western Mid hills ( below 1600 m)
14. Posilo makai 1 2065 B.S Eastern to Western Mid hills ( below 1600 m)

17. References:
Agrawal, R.L.(2005) Seed Technology, Second edition (page no. 130-134)
www.narc.org.np
Krisi Diary(2069), Minstry of Agriculture. Minstry of Agriculture.
Barsic Bali Bikash Karyakram Tatha Tathyanka Pustika; Barsic Pragati Pratibedan
(2066/067)
 K.R. Regmi, K.K. Sherchhan, Trainer’s Manual Maize , DOA, ATMDP