Abstract:

In order to investigate the effects of planting density on yield, and plant and kernel characters of maize, four maize varieties ‘Yongyou 1573’, ‘Yongyou 1593’, ‘Zhengdan 958’ and ‘Xianyu 335’were selected and planted with five densities (60000, 67500, 75000, 82500 and 90000 plants/hm²). The changes of 8 yield characters, and 4 plant characters and 3 kernel quality characters at different growth stages were determined. The results showed that the yield first increased and then decreased with the increase of planting density, and the yield reached the highest when the density was 75000 plants/hm². The plant height, ear position and leaf area index (LAI) increased gradually, while 100-kernel weight and leaf area per plant (LA) decreased gradually. From the beginning of the jointing stage, LA and LAI increased significantly and reached the maximum in the pollinating stage; 100-kernel weight increased rapidly at the early stage of grain filling, but the dry matter accumulation of plant decreased gradually, so did the LAI and LA. The crude starch content (CT), crude protein content (CP), and crude fat content (CF) of maize kernels had significant differences among the varieties, and were influenced by both kernel development and planting density. ‘Yongyou 1573’ had higher CP, ‘Xianyu 335’ had higher CT, and ‘Zhengdan 958’ had higher CF. Therefore, the high yield and the high nutritional quality of maize can be obtained by increasing the planting density appropriately and integrating water and fertilizer management in field.

Key words: maize, planting density, plant characters, kernel quality characters