Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems

Plant density and tillage methods are two important factors affecting forage corn production. A field experiment was conducted in the summer of 2010 in northern Iran to evaluate the response of yield and yield components and nutritive quality of forage corn to various plant densities under differen...

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Main Author:	Baghdadi, Ali
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Corn - Quality Corn - Yields Corn - Spacing
Online Access:	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32160/1/FP%202012%2020R.pdf
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id	my-upm-ir.32160
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spelling	my-upm-ir.321602015-01-19T02:52:34Z Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems 2012-01 Baghdadi, Ali Plant density and tillage methods are two important factors affecting forage corn production. A field experiment was conducted in the summer of 2010 in northern Iran to evaluate the response of yield and yield components and nutritive quality of forage corn to various plant densities under different tillage methods. The experiment used a split-plot design with tillage as the main plot in three replications and plant density as the subplots within each tillage method. The plant densities were 90,000, 110,000 and 130,000 plants per hectare and the tillage methods were conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), minimum tillage (MT) and no-tillage (NT). The results of the study showed that plant density affected yield components, including forage dry matter (DM) yield, fresh forage yield, stem diameter, leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), leaf to stem ratio and cob/whole plant ratio. At the high plant density (130,000 plants ha-1), the forage yield (57.3 t ha-1) was higher than the normal plant density used in the northern part of the country (110,000 plants ha-1) by 16.75%. In terms of dry matter the highest yield was achieved for the highest plant density (16.5 t ha-1) and the minimum was obtained for the lowest plant density (14.3 t ha-1). Low plant density resulted in high stem diameter (1.93 cm). Lowest leaf to stem ratio (0.40) and cob/whole plant ratio (0.41) were obtained at high plant density as compared to low and usual plant density. Maximum LAI (4.59) and CGR (39.63 g m-2 day-1) were recorded at the highest plant density Increasing plant density reduced the nutritive quality of forage corn. The crude protein (CP) declined from 125 to 99 g kg-1 from the lowest to the highest plant density. Acid detergent fiber (ADF) increased from 156.9 to 197.5 g kg-1 from the lowest to the highest plant density. Dry matter digestibility (DMD) decreased from 689.9 to 655.0 g kg-1 from lowest to highest plant density. Tillage methods had significant effects on dry matter (DM) yield, fresh forage yield, stem height and number of leaves of forage corn while the nutritive value of corn was not significantly affected. Conventional tillage resulted in dry matter yield of 17.1 t ha-1 which was not significantly different from the dry matter yield for reduced tillage (16.2 t ha-1). However minimum tillage (14.6 tha-1) and no tillage (13.7 t ha-1) showed significantly lower dry matter yield than conventional tillage. Maximum CGR (35.5 g m-2 day-1) and LAI (4.30) were recorded for conventional tillage method. It is recommended that reduced tillage (two passes of rotary tiller) should be practised for planting corn in north of Iran as it benefits soil conservation without any reduction in yield compared to conventional tillage (mouldboard plow followed by two passes of rotary tiller). Plant density of 130,000 plants ha-1 result in the best potential for increased forage corn yield compared to lower plant densities. The slight reduction in nutritive quality at high plant density is compensated by the higher yield obtained. Corn - Quality Corn - Yields Corn - Spacing 2012-01 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32160/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32160/1/FP%202012%2020R.pdf application/pdf en public masters Universiti Putra Malaysia Corn - Quality Corn - Yields Corn - Spacing Faculty of Agriculture
institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection	PSAS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	Corn - Quality Corn - Yields Corn - Spacing
spellingShingle	Corn - Quality Corn - Yields Corn - Spacing Baghdadi, Ali Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
description	Plant density and tillage methods are two important factors affecting forage corn production. A field experiment was conducted in the summer of 2010 in northern Iran to evaluate the response of yield and yield components and nutritive quality of forage corn to various plant densities under different tillage methods. The experiment used a split-plot design with tillage as the main plot in three replications and plant density as the subplots within each tillage method. The plant densities were 90,000, 110,000 and 130,000 plants per hectare and the tillage methods were conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), minimum tillage (MT) and no-tillage (NT). The results of the study showed that plant density affected yield components, including forage dry matter (DM) yield, fresh forage yield, stem diameter, leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), leaf to stem ratio and cob/whole plant ratio. At the high plant density (130,000 plants ha-1), the forage yield (57.3 t ha-1) was higher than the normal plant density used in the northern part of the country (110,000 plants ha-1) by 16.75%. In terms of dry matter the highest yield was achieved for the highest plant density (16.5 t ha-1) and the minimum was obtained for the lowest plant density (14.3 t ha-1). Low plant density resulted in high stem diameter (1.93 cm). Lowest leaf to stem ratio (0.40) and cob/whole plant ratio (0.41) were obtained at high plant density as compared to low and usual plant density. Maximum LAI (4.59) and CGR (39.63 g m-2 day-1) were recorded at the highest plant density Increasing plant density reduced the nutritive quality of forage corn. The crude protein (CP) declined from 125 to 99 g kg-1 from the lowest to the highest plant density. Acid detergent fiber (ADF) increased from 156.9 to 197.5 g kg-1 from the lowest to the highest plant density. Dry matter digestibility (DMD) decreased from 689.9 to 655.0 g kg-1 from lowest to highest plant density. Tillage methods had significant effects on dry matter (DM) yield, fresh forage yield, stem height and number of leaves of forage corn while the nutritive value of corn was not significantly affected. Conventional tillage resulted in dry matter yield of 17.1 t ha-1 which was not significantly different from the dry matter yield for reduced tillage (16.2 t ha-1). However minimum tillage (14.6 tha-1) and no tillage (13.7 t ha-1) showed significantly lower dry matter yield than conventional tillage. Maximum CGR (35.5 g m-2 day-1) and LAI (4.30) were recorded for conventional tillage method. It is recommended that reduced tillage (two passes of rotary tiller) should be practised for planting corn in north of Iran as it benefits soil conservation without any reduction in yield compared to conventional tillage (mouldboard plow followed by two passes of rotary tiller). Plant density of 130,000 plants ha-1 result in the best potential for increased forage corn yield compared to lower plant densities. The slight reduction in nutritive quality at high plant density is compensated by the higher yield obtained.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Baghdadi, Ali
author_facet	Baghdadi, Ali
author_sort	Baghdadi, Ali
title	Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
title_short	Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
title_full	Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
title_fullStr	Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
title_full_unstemmed	Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
title_sort	forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems
granting_institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
granting_department	Faculty of Agriculture
publishDate	2012
url	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32160/1/FP%202012%2020R.pdf
_version_	1747811647655772160

Forage corn yield and nutritive quality under different plant densities and tillage systems

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