The scientific background of competitive maize production

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Evaluation of NDVI, SPAD values and yield of two different maize (Zea mays l.) genotypes under foliar fertilisation

Ensuring global food security has become a matter of great concern with the constantly increasing population growth, resulting in rising food demands. Simultaneously, climate change and land degradation pose major risks to agricultural production. Maize is one of the most produced crops globally and maize yields must be increased to meet the population’s needs. Fertilisation is considered indispensable for the crop growth and development. Foliar fertilisation, unlike root fertilisation, enables rapid access of nutrients to plants while sustaining the environment. Our research was carried out at Látókép in 2021, where, foliar sprays of Natur Plasma T biostimulant, Natur Active complex foliar fertiliser, Zinc and Sulphur Mono additives were applied at the 8-leaf stage on two maize hybrids, Mv 352 (FAO 350) and Mv Anissa (FAO 510). The main objectives were to examine the treatment’s effect on crops at critical phenophases (12-leaf stage, silking, maturity), besides determining its impacts on the harvested yields. Based on our findings, foliar nutrients had positively influenced the NDVI and SPAD values of both crops. Furthermore, in comparison with the control plots, the yield of Mv Anissa was 9% higher, while that of Mv 352 was 5.4% higher. Consequently, Mv Anissa produced the highest yield of 21.345 t/ha, i.e. 2.8 tons higher than that obtained by Mv 352. Moreover, the treatment increased their thousand-grain weight. Thereby, our study demonstrates the efficiency of the foliar fertilisation method in improving maize vegetative growth and development in addition to its productivity by enhancing its final yield

Effects of soil cultivation and environmental changes on maize yield

We evaluated the relationships among soil cultivation and other agrotechnical factors (fertilization, number of plants and hybrid) within the framework of a multifactorial long-term experiment set at the Látókép Experimental Site of the Centre for Agricultural Sciences of the University of Debrecen in mid-heavy chalcareous chernozem soil based on a long-term experiment conducted for a 5-year period (2002–2006). Based on the evaluation of soil cultivation by the average of treatments, it may be assessed that spring ploughing (8.204 t ha-1) provides more favourable conditions to the stand compared to spring shallow cultivation; however, this did not result in a significant difference. Spring ploughing considerably increased the yield of hybrid FAO 300 in dry years, whereas it considerably increased the yield of hybrid FAO 400 in favourable crop years. A stand of 70 thousand stems/ha provided the higher yield result in both soil cultivation types. It was sufficient to use a fertilizer dose of 120 kg N ha-1 for economical production

N-Stabilizer and Foliar Fertilizer Treatments Enhance Tolerance to Specific Pathogens in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Presently, due to unpredictable climatic conditions crop cultivation has become extremely challenging. Adverse environmental factors, such as uneven precipitation distribution, frequent soil droughts, extreme temperature fluctuations all induce a disturbance in crop nutrient uptake, and the infections of pathogens in stressed crops pose an increased threat, as well Besides the fact that foliar fertilizer is energetically beneficial for crops, it also improves nutrient use and prevents nutrient deficiencies. Despite the regular and wide-range application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers, N-losses resulting from nitrate leaching are often considerable, which can be reduced by N-stabilizers providing sufficient available N-forms in the soil for crops during the critical growth stage. The present paper focuses on enhancing the natural tolerance of the maize (Zea mays L.) treated with N-stabilizer containing nitrapyrin and foliar fertilizer to the Fusarium and Aspergillus ear rot (Fusarium verticillioides; Aspergillus flavus) pathogens. Data suggest that the maize treated with both nitrapyrin and foliar fertilizer was the most resistant to the pathogens compared to untreated crops. The findings drive attention to the importance of optimal, balanced nutrient supply

A klímaváltozás okozta növényi stressz mérséklése

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The impact of climatic factors on the relative chlorophyll content and yield of a maize hybrid in a long-term experiment

The impact of the climatic factors of crop year on the relative chlorophyll content of maize was examined for three years. The examinations were carried out on the Látókép Experiment Site of the University of Debrecen on calcareous chernozem soil in a small-plot, non-irrigated long-term field experiment with strip plot design. In addition to a non-fertilised (control) treatment, nitrogen (N) fertiliser doses were applied as base and top dressing. The 60 and 120 kg N ha-1 base dressing doses were followed by two top dressing doses at the V6 and V12 phenophases. Averaged over the different fertiliser treatments, SPAD readings increased in all three years as the growing season progressed. The highes SPAD value increase was observed in the average crop year (2017) at the V12 phenophase (11.8), which further increased at the R1 phenophas, by 3,7. No significant Spad value difference was observed between the average (2017) and the dry year (2018) at the V6 growth phase. However, in the wet crop year (2016), the V690 treatment provided the statistically highest relative chlorophyll content (46.8). At the V12 phenophase, the base dressing dose of 120 kg N ha-1+30 kg N ha-1 (V6150) showed to be successful in two years (2016 and 2018), while in 2017, the base dressing dose of A60 was successful. The impact of crop year on relative chlorophyll content can be clearly shown at the R1 growth stage. In all three years, the significantly highest relative chlorophyll content could be achieved at different nutrient levels: A60 in 2016, V6150 in 2017 and V690. In a wet year (2016), higher yield could be achieved as a result of the 60 kg N ha-1 base dressing and 30 kg N ha-1 at the V6 growth stage (V690) as top dressing in comparison with 2017 and 2018, when higher fertiliser dose (120 kg N ha-1 base dressing and 30 kg N ha-1top dressing at the V6 growth stage) was needed to achieve a significant yield surplus. Altogether, averaged over the different treatments, the highest yield (12.48 t ha-1) was observed in the wet year, when the relative chlorophyll content was also the highest (50.6)