Effect of partial defoliation after silking stage on yield components of three grain maize hybrids under semi-arid conditions

Abstract

The effect of source reduction on yield and yield components of three maize hybrids at three plant densities was studied under agro-climatic conditions in southern Iran. Field experiments were conducted at the research farm of the College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, located at Bajgah (52° 35′ N and 39° 4′ E, 1810 masl) during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons. The treatments included three hybrids, three plant densities and defoliation, arranged in the main, subplots and sub-subplots, respectively. Defoliation treatments, which consisted of removing all the leaves from one side of the maize plants, were imposed when plants were at the silking stage. Silking was taken as the time when 50% of the plants in a row presented visible silks. Partial defoliations included control, and 50% defoliation at 25 and 35 days after silking (defoliation treatments were applied to all plants in each plot). The experiments were conducted in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with three replications. Dry matter accumulation was assessed by sampling ears at 7-day intervals from the mid-silking stage to black layer formation. Defoliation treatments decreased grain yields significantly in both years. The highest grain yield in 2008 (19 t ha⁻¹) was obtained from hybrid Maxima ‘524’ and in 2009 (14 t ha⁻¹) from hybrid 704 at 95,000 plants ha⁻¹ density. Defoliation treatments decreased grain yields due to a reduction in the number of kernels per ear, as well as mean kernel weight. Some other measured parameters including stalk, shank, husk and cob dry weights, and cob and ear lengths were also decreased under defoliation treatments. If 50% of the photosynthetic area after silking was removed, the quantity of retransferred assimilates from stalk to kernel was increased. Finally, partial defoliation, 25 days after silking, reduced all the yield components more than any other treatments.

Keywords:

• partial defoliation
• maize hybrids
• silking stage
• yield components