INFLUENCE OF ROW SPACING ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE HYBRIDS OF DIFFERENT MATURITY GROUPS

Abstract

Growing corn is a complex process, the success of which depends on compliance with the cultivation technology. Increasing the productivity of modern maize hybrids without incurring high cultivation costs is possible primarily by optimizing the plant nutrition area by using different row spacing. The research on this topic was conducted during 2021-2022 in the conditions of Organic-D LLC in the village of Sutisky. We have found that row spacing significantly affects the complex of economically valuable traits and productivity of corn plants. Reducing the row spacing from 70 to 45 cm, especially for mid-early and mid-season maize hybrids, increases the competition of plants for light and promotes plant elongation and linear growth by 2-5 cm. Increasing the row spacing from 45 to 70 cm has a positive effect on increasing the length and weight of cobs in the group of medium-early and medium-ripening maize hybrids, causing an increase in the number of rows of grains by 1.2-1.3 pcs. For the group of early maturing hybrids, the change in row spacing did not have a significant effect on cob length and cob weight. The largest number of cobs at a row spacing of 45 cm was formed by early ripe corn hybrids Dniprovskyi 181 SV - 76.3 thousand pieces per hectare and DMS Coral - 75.8 thousand pieces per hectare. The use of row spacing of 70 cm for the mid-early and mid-season group contributes to the formation of the largest number of cobs for the mid-season hybrid - Vizir - 84.1 thousand units per hectare and the mid-early Bogatyr - 81.8 thousand units per hectare. Extending the duration of the growing season in the studied maize hybrids requires the use of row spacing of 70 cm, while the number of grains in a number of medium-early and medium-ripening hybrids increases by 4.2-9.5 pcs. The increase in yield due to the use of row spacing of 70 cm was significant for mid-early and mid-season hybrids and amounted to 0.36-2.07 t/ha, compared to the row spacing of 45 cm.