The maize area harvested in Indonesia is about 3 million ha with an average yield of 2.2 t/ha. Most of the maize area is in rainfed uplands and lowlands, with only about 11% in irrigated lowlands. About 74% of maize area is grown in the rainy season and the rest in the post-rainy season and dry season. The yields of maize planted in the post-rainy or dry season with limited irrigation are about 73% and 63% of the yield under full irrigation for early and late maturing varieties, respectively. An estimated 69% of maize area grown in the rainy season is in areas with erratic rainfall. Maize frequently suffers from drought during early plant development and flowering. The estimate of maize production loss due to drought is about 15%, approximately 1.2 million tons annually. Some local varieties are early-maturing and may escape drought. A local variety 'Cetek' from Mojosari, East lava is drought tolerant. The yield reduction due to drought at flowering of a population developed by crossing this variety with the improved variety 'Arjuna' was 16%, while other populations ranged from 27 to 51%. Pool 2, a population developed by crossing local varieties with 'Suwan 2', has been improved for drought tolerance using a full-sib family procedure. Five cycles of selection have resulted in yields increasing from 4.44 to 6.08 t/ha under full irrigation and from 2.68 to 3.90 t/ha under drought at flowering.

English

9801|AGRIS 9702

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection