Campus Units

Agronomy

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

2019

Journal or Book Title

Agronomy Journal

Volume

111

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

11

DOI

10.2134/agronj2018.04.0297

Abstract

Unfavorable weather conditions frequently cause farmers to plant maize (Zea mays L.) outside the optimum planting timeframe. We analyzed maize yield and phenology from a multilocation, year, hybrid relative maturity, and planting date experiment performed in Iowa, USA. Our objectives were to determine the optimum combination of planting date and relative maturity to maximize maize grain yield per environment and to elucidate the risk associated with the use of “full-season hybrids” when planting occurs beyond the optimum planting date. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) attributed 70% of the variability in grain yield to planting date and only 10% to relative maturity indicating that short and full-season hybrid relative maturities produced similar grain yields regardless of when they were planted as long as the crops reached maturity before harvesting. Our analysis indicated time to silking is a good indication of expected yield potential with a critical time (beyond which yield is reduced) to be 23 July for Iowa. Furthermore, we found that a minimum growing degree accumulation of 648°Cday during the grain-filling period maximized maize yield. Overall, this study brings new results to assist decision making regarding planting date by hybrid relative maturity across Iowa.

Comments

This article is published as Baum, M. E., S. V. Archontoulis, and M. A. Licht. 2019. Planting Date, Hybrid Maturity, and Weather Effects on Maize Yield and Crop Stage. Agron. J. 111:1-11. doi: 10.2134/agronj2018.04.0297.

Copyright Owner

American Society of Agronomy

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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