Farmers attend shows to see new and exciting things, and K2 Seed Marketing did not disappoint them at the recent Agritech 2019 show.

Alfred Nosenga, Research Facilitator at K2 Seed, was very keen to tell farmers about their latest innovations. “We are quite happy to be at the show simply because we have the chance to show our farmers the new and current cultivars we have on the market and what is in the pipeline. We have some excellent commercial varieties as well as varieties suited for small-scale farmers,” he says.

For the farmers who don’t know yet, all the names of K2 Seed’s maize seed cultivars start with the letters, KKS, which stands for K2 Seed. The second part of the name consists of three digits, for instance 603. The first digit will be between 1 and 9 and indicates the maturity period. Early maturities can be distinguished by the lower first number. If the last digit is an even number it indicates yellow maize, and odd numbers are allotted to white maize cultivars.

New white cultivars

The three white cultivars at the stand were KKS603, KKS607 and KKS609. They are all classified in the medium maturity range and take 130 to 132 days to mature.

KKS603 offers high yields and is also drought tolerant. KKS607 has the same properties as KKS603, but it contains a revolutionary ‘stay green’ gene. This gene has the ability to keep the whole plant green until the cob reaches maturity. It produces high grain yields and offers more nutritious, tastier and better digestible stover for animal feed.

Apart from the above-mentioned properties, these three varieties produce semi-flint grain. K2 Seed found the sweet spot between flint and dent kernels, by breeding a semi-flint cultivar. Dent kernels are soft enough, and flint kernels are too hard for weevils to penetrate, but the millers complain about the processing capacity of flint types. Semi-flint maize keeps both parties happy.

K2 Seed’s new early maturing variety on the market is KKS501. It takes 125 to 128 days to mature and dries down very quickly. “We brought it to the Zambian market because of the droughts that are becoming more frequent these days. When the rains are delayed, it can be planted later and still harvested in time. Farmers need something for a shorter season,” Alfred says.

Experimental maize tests

K2 Seed also experimented with a number of very early maturing varieties on their plot at the show. “We have a very early maturing variety which matures in 90 to 100 days. It will be in the region of our 3-series. It was planted three months ago and is already in an advanced stage of maturity. We are looking forward to presenting it to our farmers within the next two years. We also have early maturing varieties in the 4-series and plenty in the 5-series range, which are also coming through soon. We will also get some in the 6-series, which will support, and promise to do better than our current 6-series range,” he says.

Silage

When talking silage, more fodder material is always better. The best new variety K2 Seed offers is KKS609 since it is a very tall plant. KKS603 and KKS607 are also recommendable for making good silage.

“In response to demands from our farmers, we also bring in new varieties. Some cobs are thick and some are long, but ultimately, they give close to the same yields. They only differ in the number of kernels on the cob. Some have 14 lines and more rows and others have 18 lines and fewer rows,” Alfred says.

Whether you want to grow as a commercial or small-scale farmer, do it with the help of K2 Seed Zambia. Contact Kevin Kleemann Wright at +26 (0)97-776-2111 or +26 (0)21-184-0965 or e-mail kevin@seedmarketing.co.za for more information.