Change in radiation penetration of mechanically-injured maize

Abstract

The aim of the study was to provide new information about those environmental processes, mainly in radiation, which lead to production decrease in mechanically- and hail-injured maize. The size of the leaf area and its vertical distribution were used to describe the stand. In place of direct leaf angle measurements the extinction coefficient was used to characterize the modification that resulted from leaf laceration. In the course of the investigations it was found that while healthy plant stands allowed 30.6% of the total incident radiation to reach the ground, this figure was 41% for hail-damaged stands. There was little difference in the quantity of radiation measured on sunny and shaded patches in the two stands, but the ratio of sunny to shaded patches was altered. The radiation intensity reaching the soil surface in the lacerated stand increased despite the very slight difference in leaf area index (LAI). Extra radiation input in the soil of hail-damaged stand was a consequence of modification in the leaf angle.

Keywords:

• Hail injury
• canopy architecture
• extinction coefficient

Acknowledgements

The research was sponsored by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in the frame of application OTKA No. T 043147.