EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT HERBICIDES ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE (Zea mays L) IN LAFIA, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Weed is a man-made problem and therefore herbicide use is significant in optimizing agricultural resources to satisfy human needs. It is therefore important to study the effect of herbicide on maize performance, for proper management and long-time productivity. The field experiment was conducted in the rainy season of the year 2021. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design with five treatments and replicated three times given a total of 15 plots. The treatments were represented as T1 (Atrazine), T2 (Diuron), T3 (Metolachlor), T4 (Butachlor) and T5 (Control), respectively. Treatments were applied at the same experimental plots equally. Data was also collected on growth and yield parameters and were subjected to analysis of variance The results of the experiment showed that butachlor (T4) recorded the highest value in leaf area (286.00 cm3), plant height (121.27 cm), numbers of leaves (13.70), stem girth (28 cm) and yield parameters (weight of dry maize, weight of dry maize/plot, weight dry seed, weight of wet maize, weight of wet maize/plot with values of 188.67g, 2873.50g, 44.00g, 207.17g and 3033.67g), respectively While Diuron (T2) had the lowest values on all yield parameters (0.00 g).There was statistically high significant difference among treatments means. It can be concluded that butachlor application performed best with the highest improvement in the growth and yield of maize.