Productivity, morphology, phenology, and physiology of a desert-adapted Native American maize (Zea mays L.) cultivar

Abstract

Water is the single most limiting resource for crop production. Native Americans of the arid southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico have developed agricultural systems that for centuries provided viable levels of production within environmental constraints. This research was conducted to identify biological attributes contributing to the reputed drought resistance of a traditional maize cultivar and to determine the effects of production practice on maize productivity under arid conditions. The study examined dry matter production and partitioning responses of a maize cultivar, native to the Sonoran Desert, and a modem hybrid, adapted to the semihumid to humid North Central U.S., to five irrigation regimes. Responses were evaluated in the contexts of traditional indigenous and modem commercial planting patterns and depths. Relative to the hybrid, the native maize had lower, but more stable, grain yields and produced greater harvest indices and more grain per unit leaf area. The effects of planting pattern and depth on yield responses differed between the native and hybrid maize and between years. Enduring agroecosystems may provide suitable cultivars and suggest ecologically-sound practices for arid and drought-prone environments. Deborah A. Muenchrath and Ricardo J. Salvador, Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011-1010. This study was conducted in cooperation with the New Mexico State Univ. Agric. Sci. Center at Los Lunas, NM. This material is based on work supported, in part, by a Grant-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. * Corresponding author.