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Production and distribution of dry matter in maize following changes in plant population after flowering
Author(s) -
H.WILSON J.,
ALLISON J. C. S.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1978.tb02618.x
Subject(s) - biology , sowing , dry matter , population , dry weight , crop , horticulture , agronomy , zoology , botany , demography , sociology
SUMMARY Maize plants were grown singly in pots in a population of 3.7 plants m ‐2 , and 98 days after sowing (shortly after flowering) were arranged into three populations, 1.27 (W), 3.70 (M), and 6.15 (C) plants m ‐2 , respectively. The plants were harvested 131 days after sowing, about 4 wk before the normal time of maturity, because some plants at the closest spacing began dying. Increment of dry weight between days 98 and 131 was 373, 243, and 108 g/plant and grain dry weight at harvest was 218, 220 and 195 g/plant in populations W, M and C, respectively. Thus, dry weight of parts of the plant other than grain increased in population W, remained about the same in population M, and decreased in population C between days 98 and 131. Number of kernels per plant was c. 540 in all three populations. On day 98, immediately after rearrangement, leaf area index (L) was 2.0, 5.8 and 9.7 in populations W, M and C, respectively. By day 131 L had decreased to 6.7 in population C, but had hardly changed in the other two populations. Crop growth rate between days 98 and 131 was 101, 191 and 141 g m ‐2 wk ‐1 , and grain dry wt per unit of land on day 131 was 277, 816 and 1196 g m ‐2 , in populations W, M and C, respectively.