MAIZE YIELD (Zea mays L.) AND RESPONSE TO SOURCES AND DOSES OF FERTILIZERS AND BIOFERTILIZERS IN GUERRERO, MEXICO

Abstract

In Guerrero, the mean maize yield (Zea mays L.) in 2014 was 2.79 t ha^-1, with Creole varieties, national hybrids and from transnational companies, under different soil and climate conditions, at altitudes from sea level to 2880 m, mainly under a rainfed regime (95%). In 1994, the State Fertilizer Program was created as a response to the low maize yields, providing producers with ammonium sulfate, and in 2006 this program introduced other sources of fertilizers, pest and weed control, higher population density and biofertilizers. In 2009, 116 demonstrative plots were established in producers’ lands, in the six geoeconomic regions of the state of Guerrero, with the objective of evaluating commercial genetic materials of rainfed maize and the response to sources and doses of nitrogenous fertilization, phosphorus and biofertilizers; in addition, it was also possible to consider the response to the form of application of the fertilizer, and the effect from the sowing date and altitude. The genetic materials and their responses to these factors show similarities and differences between production regions and conditions, obtaining yields in function of the physiographic position and type of climate, ranging between 5000 and 9700 kg ha^-1.