The effect of crop density on yield of forage maize

V Mandic,Z Bijelic,A Simic,V Caro-Petrovic,M Petricevic,Z Tomic,A Stanojkovic,V Krnjaja

doi:10.2298/bah1504567m

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to estimate the effects of crop density on the plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), number of leaves per plant (NL), forage yield hectare-1 (FY), dry matter yield hectare-1 (DMY), stem percentage (SP), leaf percentage (LP) and ear percentage (EP) in two maize hybrids of FAO maturity group 600 (ZP 684 and NS 6010). Field trials were carried out in rainfed farming in the Srem region (location Putinci: 44?59?19" North and 19?58?11" East) during years 2007 and 2008. Three crop densities were compared: G1 - 51,020 plants ha-1, G2 - 59,524 plants ha-1 and G3 - 71,429 plants ha-1 (corresponding to spacing of 70 ? 28, 70 ? 24, and 70 ? 20 cm). Plots were organized as completely randomized block system design in four replications. PH (265.45 cm), SD (2.40 cm), FY (68.63 t ha-1) and DMY (24.63 t ha-1) were significantly higher in 2007 than in 2008 (261.78 cm, 2.32 cm, 61.17 t ha-1 and 21.04 t ha-1, respectively). Hybrid NS 6010 had significantly higher PH (266.23 cm), SD (2.39 cm) and NL (14.75) than hybrid ZP 684 (261.0 cm, 2.33 cm and 13.99, respectively). Increasing crop density significantly increased the PH, FY, DMY and SP, and significantly decreases the SD and EP. Therefore, crop density of 71,429 plants ha-1 (70 x 20 cm) can be recommended for growing hybrids of FAO 600 maturity group in climatic conditions of Srem in order to achieve high yields of forage and dry matter.

Highlights

We examined the effect of three crop densities (51,020 plants ha-1, 59,524 plants ha-1 and 71,429 plants ha-1) on the plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), number of leaves per plant (NL), forage yield hectare-1 (FY), dry matter yield hectare-1 (DMY), stem percentage (SP), leaf percentage (LP) and ear percentage (EP) in maize hybrids ZP 684 and NS 6010 in different environmental conditions
Results showed that the year had highly significant effect on PH, SD, FY and DMY (Table 1)
Results of the study showed that the hybrids ZP 684 and NS 6010 can be recommended for production of forage in Srem region

Summary

Introduction

Maize is a very convenient crop for forage production due to the high production of green mass per unit area (12-25 t total dry matter per hectare), high energy content of dry matter and quality of biomass for silage (Mandić et al 2013). Silage maize hybrids are certified based on fresh and dry matter yield and the proportion of the ear (Tóthné Zsubori, 2011). Çarpıcı et al (2010) established that dry matter yield and stem percentage increased, leaf number plant-1, stem diameter and ear percentage decreased as crop density increased. Karaşahin (2014) concluded that the silage and dry matter yield increased as plant density increased, while decreased stem diameter, and fresh ear ratio. While forage yield and dry matter yield increases with increasing plant densities, stem diameter decreases (Baghdadi et al 2012; Moosavi et al, 2012)

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion