نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Introduction: Corn (Zea mays L.) is one of the oldest agricultural plants, which has a special place among agricultural products due to its favorable characteristics, such as high adaptation to climatic conditions, high production of dry matter, and high water use efficiency. The high production potential of corn and its importance in feeding livestock and poultry, as well as the variety of products obtained from corn, have caused this plant to attract the attention of many countries in the world. Management practices can affect the growth and yield of maize. One practice used to increase yield has been to adjust the proper planting orientation and spacing between maize rows. Proper distribution and orientation of the corn plant during planting allows the canopy to absorb more light and thus increases vegetative growth and grain yield.
Materials and Methods: To investigate the effect of row orientation, crop density, and row distance on corn (Zea mays L.) growth and yield, a study was conducted at the experimental field of Birjand University during 2021. Treatments included row orientation (north-south and east-west), corn density (7.5, 10, and 12.5 plants per square meter), and row distance (35 and 70 cm). In order to evaluate the effect of row orientation, this effect was considered as the effect of location in two adjacent fields, and the two factors of density and row distance in each field were done as a factorial layout based on a randomized complete block design in three replications. Sampling of plants was done in 5 stages of 21 days after emergence. In each of these stages, 3 plants were randomly harvested from one-third of each plot, observing the margin effect, and characteristics such as leaf surface index and dry weight of aerial organs were measured. To measure the morphological traits, including plant height, 5 plants from each plot were randomly selected and marked after the plants were fully established, and their stem length was measured every 21 days using a ruler in centimeters. It was taken; Then their average was calculated in each plot. To determine the percentage of light interception (LI%), the amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was measured using a radiometer between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. In each case, 10 measurements were taken from below the canopy and in different directions (to calculate the light transmitted through the canopy), and two measurements were taken from above the canopy (to measure the total radiation reaching the canopy surface). After physiological processing, biomass and grain yield were measured.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that north-south planting orientation significantly increased plant height and leaf area index. The increase in leaf area index in this row direction led to an increase in the light interception (LI%). The row spacing of 35 cm led to an increase in leaf area index, biological yield, and grain yield; in fact, this increase in yield was the result of greater LI% in this row spacing. The effect of density was also significant on plant height, fresh forage yield, ear length, number of grain rows, number of grains per row, total grain number, and 1000 grain weight, and at the highest level it led to a decrease in all traits except height and fresh forage yield.
Conclusion: The north-south planting row direction in the Birjand region led to the superiority of plant height, LI%, and leaf area index compared to the east-west planting row direction. Narrow row spacing increased leaf area index, biological yield, grain yield, and LI% compared to conventional row spacing. Low density significantly increased yield components, including ear length, number of grain rows, number of grains per row, total grain number, and 1,000-grain weight. With increasing plant density, LI% also increased; this is due to the increase in the number of leaves and leaf area per unit area, which allows plants to utilize more light radiation. Overall, according to the results of this study, better light conditions in the north-south planting direction led to better growth of corn plants and increased biomass and grain yield; also, the planting system in 35 cm row spacing can be recommended to farmers as an agricultural solution to increase corn yield.
کلیدواژهها English
