Abstract

Genetic variability in mineral composition among different stress tolerant maize genotypes was carried out. Thirteen genotypes and two local checks (control) were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The twelve agronomic characters studied were plant height, ear per plant, anthesissilking interval, days to pollen, days to silking, days to maturity, number of cob per plant, leave length, Zinc, Magnesium, iron and grain yield. The result obtained from the analysis of variance for all the agronomic traits studied showed significant differences among all the genotypes at (P < 0.01). The highest mean value for zinc was seen in SAM 15 (3.39 mg/kg), followed by SAM 24 (3.26 mg/kg) and L2 (control) (3.16 mg/kg). The least mean value for zinc was found in SAM 37 (2.25 mg/kg). The highest mean values for magnesium was found in L1 (control) (6.53 mg/kg), followed by SAM 38 (6.48 mg/kg) and SAM 15 and L2 (control) (6.45 mg/kg). The least mean value was found in SAM 46 and SAM 37 (5.98 mg/kg). The mean performance for Iron showed there was significant difference between the genotypes. SAM 48 had the highest mean value (8.35 mg/kg) for iron, followed by SAM 26 (4.05 mg/kg) and SAM 46 (3.83 mg/kg). SAM 24 had the least mean value (2.09 mg/kg).................