Abstract
Reasonable fertilization of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) had significant effects on maize growth. In this experiment, two N levels (N180 and N225 kg ha−1) and four K treatments (K0, K75, K150 and K75 + 75 kg ha−1) were set to study the effects of combined application of N and K on the grain yield and quality of waxy maize. The results showed that grain yield increased with increasing K under the same N level, and top-dressing K further increased the grain yield. K application increased starch content significantly at N180 and decreased significantly at N225, while the protein content increased significantly at the two N levels. The grain starch content with the K75 + 75 treatment increased by 5.8% and 9.0% compared with K150 at the two N levels, and the protein content decreased by 2.9% and 4.7%. Application of K increased the retrogradation enthalpy (ΔHret) and retrogradation percentage (%R) at N180. At N225, the ΔHret and %R of K75 and K150 decreased, while those of K75 + 75 increased. The ΔHret and %R under K75 + 75 at N180 were lower than N225. Under these experiment conditions, 75 kg ha−1 K2O at sowing date and top-dressed 75 kg ha−1 K2O at jointing stage (V6) under the conditions of appropriate N reduction could not only effectively improve the pasting and thermal properties of waxy maize flour, but also stabilized the grain yield.
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