Abstract:

To study the effects of sulphur supply at different stages on the sulphur accumulation and grain quality of summer maize, the field experiment was conducted with two cultivars of summer maize (‘Nongda108’ and ‘Jinhai5’) by supplying sulphur (40 kg/hm2) at different growth stages (before sowing, the big trumpet, and the flowering separately). The results showed that sulphur accumulation in the shoot increased obviously when all sulphur supply before sowing or half of sulphur supply before sowing and the remaining half top dressed at flowering stage. Among all individual plant organs, the sulphur content in the leaves was the highest, and the cobs contain smaller proportion. Sulphur supply could increase the total content of soluble sugar in the grains of ‘Jinhai5’, and the total content of soluble sugar of all sulphur supply before sowing or half of sulphur supply before sowing and the remaining half top dressed at flowering stage was 21.0% and 15.5% higher than CK separately, while the soluble sugar in the grains of ‘Nongda108’ was unaffected. However, the content of the starch and the protein in grains were unaffected for both cultivars.