Appropriate maize production technology for farmers in some areas of Thailand

Series of experiments were carried out in farmers' fields in order to obtain appropriate technologies for maize production in Si Sa Ket Province (Kantharalak and Khun Han Districts) and Phetchabun Province (Wichian Buri, nong Phai and Lom Kao Districts). According to farmer interview and the data on soil characteristics, areas under experimentation were classified into three distinctive domains namely; the Si Sa Ket, the Plain Phetchabun, and the Hilly Phetchabun. Most of the farmers in all domains are legible. Their knowledges on maize production were obtained mainly from agricultural extension officers. Planting with hybrid variety was scant in all domains while farmers in the Si Sa Ket domain applied fertilizer extensively. Level experiment consisted of variety, fertilizer and weed control trials. These trials indicated that most improved varieties (including hybrids) out-yielded Suwan 1 variety. Grain yield varied with rates of fertilizer application but was not affected by times of fertilizer application, and methods of weed control, either hand weeding or herbicide application. An application of nitrogen fertilizer gave benificial effect on grain yield at the Si Sa Ket and the Plain Phetchabun domains. For the Hilly Phetchabun domain, grain yield tended to increase with an application of both nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers even though the responses appeared to be different among locations. The results on grain yield as well as economic analysis suggested that planting with hybrid variety and nitrogen application at the rate of 6 kg. per rai were profitable maize production technologies for the Si Sa Ket domain while only planting with hybrid variety was recommended for both domains of Phetchabun Province. The results from demonstration trial at Phetchabun Province, without fertilizer application indicated that hybrid Suwan 2602 gave lower net benefit than that of Suwan 1 when grown at the Plain Phetchabun domain. For the Hilly Phetchabun domain, the results suggested that planting with hybrid maize gave higher net benefit at the level that farmers can adopt this technology.