Yakup Onur Koca

Öner Canavar

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THE EFFECT OF SOWING DATE ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS 
AND SEED QUALITY OF CORN (Zea mays L.) 
 
Yakup Onur KOCA1, Öner CANAVAR1,2 
 
1Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Agriculture, Crop Science Department  
Aydın – 09100, Turkey 
2Humboldt University, Agriculture and Horticulture Faculty, Crop Science Department  
Berlin – 14195, Germany   
 
Corresponding author email: koca2002@hotmail.com  
 
Abstract 
 
The seed yield of corn (Zea mays L.) consists of different proportional contributions of the effective factor in all growth 
stages from emergence to maturity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of two sowing dates on 
agronomic and seed quality traits such as oil, protein and starch content of three commercial corn cultivars (31G98, 
NK-Arma and Aveline). Experiments were carried out at two different sowing dates (30 of April and 26 of May) one 
month between sowing dates in the Aegean region of Turkey during 2012 and 2013 summer growth periods. The 
experiment was a randomized block design with three replications. The results of this study showed that sowing date 
had statistically effected on thousand seed weight, the seed number in corncob, corncob length, seed yield, ash, oil, 
protein, starch contents of corn seed. In particular, it was revealed that thousand seed weight, the seed number in 
corncob, corncob length, seed yield, protein, ash and oil contents of seed were decreased with the delaying sowing date 
due to decreasing the time of growth period and seed filling. On the other hand, starch content of seed was increased by 
delaying sowing date in both years. The highest seed yield was obtained from Aveline corn cultivar in late sowing date 
in both years because of having high thousand seed weight. The percentage of decreased in terms of protein was to 
highest in Aveline cultivar with the delaying sowing date. It was suggested that eventough the Aegean climate has a 
long growing period and is a suitable environment for second crop corn growth, the selection of cultivar is very 
important to grown in terms of seed yield in late sowing date because of the fact that plant can be exposed to 
inappropriate excessive temperature during the vegetative period in late sowing date in Aegean region. 
 
Key words: corn, sowing date, seed yield, protein, NIRS. 
 
INTRODUCTION  
 
The seed yield of corn (Zea mays L.) consists 
of different proportional contributions of the 
effective factor in all growth stages from 
emergence to maturity. For a better 
understanding of climatic and cultural effects 
on corn yield and grain quality, intensive 
research that evaluates different geographic 
locations, sowing dates and genotype selection 
are needed. In order to minimized negative 
effect of some abiotic and biotic stress on plant, 
sowing date can play a major role in 
determining the seed yield, quality, seed 
germination and understanding whole 
phenological stages in many regions. Some 
researchers pointed out that especially, the 
effect on sowing date and plant density on corn 
expressed that delay in sowing reduces the 
number of kernels in corn (Cantarero et al., 
2000). Shunway et al. (1992) explained that 
delay in sowing reduces quality performance 
and performance components of maize. Early 
and intermediate sowings tend to best utilize 
solar radiation for grain production (Otegui et 
al., 1995). The most widely used information 
about how corn hybrids respond to sowing date 
and plant population have been generated from 
research done about for a long time, in which 
the first sowing dates were late April or early 
May in Turkey.  
This experiment was conducted to the effect of 
different two sowing dates on agronomic and 
seed quality traits such as oil, protein and starch 
content of three commercial corn cultivars.  
 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
 
The experiment was conducted in the Research 
and Experimental Farm at the Adnan Menderes 
University in Aydın, located in the Western 
Turkey at 37º 44’ N 27º 44’ E at 65 m above 
sea level in the 2012 and 2013 years the city of 
Aydın on western Turkey. The results of some 
227
Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LVII, 2014
ISSN 2285-5785; ISSN CD-ROM 2285-5793; ISSN Online 2285-5807; ISSN-L 2285-5785
analysis on soil samples from the experiment 
field are given in Table 1. The soil analysis 
results are observed that the experiment field 
has loamy sand content, its reaction had 
alkaline characteristics and it has low levels of 
organic matter. The average monthly 
temperature and precipitation values during the 
time of the experiment (2012 and 2013) are 
presented in Table 2. It can be seen that the 
monthly temperature values for the corn season 
(April – August) in the first year is higher than 
that of the second year (Table 2). 
The field experiment was carried out by split 
plot design for 4 repeats in two years. 31G98, 
NK-Arma and Aveline, which are hybrid corn 
varieties, were used as a experiment material. 
The main block was sowing date, sub-block 
was varieties. The harvest area for each variety 
was 11.2 m2. The experiment’s sowing dates 
were 30/April/2012-2013 (normal sowing date) 
and 26/May/2012-2013 (late sowing date) and 
the emerging dates were observed in 27 of May 
2011 and 07 of May 2012. 
1000 Seed Weight (g) was obtained by the 
average weight of 4 x 100. The seed number in 
corncob (number plant-1) was obtained by 
counting the number of seed of 20 randomly 
selected cob at each parcel. Data was collected 
on seed yield per unit area (t/ha) according to 
the follow equation: Seed yield (t ha-1) = seed 
weight (kg/plot) × 10.000 m2 /plot area (m2) × 
100. Per cob yield was calculated by taking 
their average of 20 cobs from parcel. Per 
corncob length was obtained by the average 
corncob lenght of 20 plants in each plot. 
Protein, starch and oil content of corn grain 
were analyzed by using NIRS-FT (Bruker 
MPA). Ash determination steps: 5 g of ground 
samples were weighed by tarring the crucible. 
After the samples were dried for 15 min at 
550°C, 5 h, the heater and furnace were kept 
waiting. Then all were kept in a desiccator to 
cool. The results were analyzed using the 
TAR ST package software (Açıkgöz et al., 
1994) to determine the effect of nitrogen and 
water dosages on the corn varieties. 
 
 
Table 1. Soil texture and chemical analysis of soil 
Soil texture 
 (%) pH 
Organic 
 matter P K Ca Na Fe Mn 
Sand Silt Clay  (%) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm) 
72.0 16.7 11.3 8.4 1.2 2978 101 19 5.6 594 21 
 
 
 
Table 2. Monthly mean temperature and total rainfall and long-term mean (1975–2011) during the growing seasons of 
2011 and 2012 at the study site in Aydin Province, Turkey 
Months Temperature (°C) Precipitation (mm) 
2011 2012 Long term 2011 2012 Long term 
January 8.1 5.6 8.2 147.2 160.0 121.0 
February 9.6 6.8 8.9 68.6 154.0 95.5 
March 11.4 10.6 11.7 26.1 38.6 71.1 
April 14.6 16.3 15.7 51.5 83.8 45.5 
May 19.6 20.1 20.9 44.7 43.6 33.5 
June 25.1 27.0 25.9 14.6 2.4 14.0 
July 31.0 29.6 28.4 0.0 3.2 3.5 
August 28.8 27.9 27.2 0.2 0.0 2.2 
September 26.2 22.7 23.2 32.2 0.0 14.4 
October  16.3 19.9 18.4 69.8 60.4 43.8 
November 11.3 14.5 13.0 - 45.6 87.5 
December  9.6 9.7 9.4 87.8 202.0 110.2 
 
 
 
 
      
228
 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 
 
The results of the analysis of variance showed 
(Table 3) that sowing date significantly 
affected on thousand seed weight, the seed 
number in corncob, corncob length, seed yield, 
ash, oil, protein, starch contents of corn seed. 
There were also statistically significant 
differences in terms of corncob length, 
thousand seed weight and protein content 
among the years (Table 3).  
It was revealed that corn cultivars different 
response to sowing date in terms of corncob 
length, seed yield, starch and thousand seed 
weight. In respect to yield attributes such as 
cob length, weight of cobs per plant were found 
significantly higher in  26 May sowing  date in 
both  years (Table 4).  
It could be due to the better growth and 
development of crop as Kolawole et al. (2009) 
reported that due to the fact that good 
photosynthates accumulated in leaves and its 
transfer to economic part like grains, cobs etc. 
This research showed that early sowing 
produced greater yields compared to late 
sowing in both years, and also the lowest pod 
yield was obtained for the latest sowing date in 
both years (Table 4), since seed filling and 
harvest time were affected by cold weather, 
rain, and frost after the late sowing date (Naab 
et al., 2004). In addition, the late sowing date 
has a higher probability of experiencing water 
stress during the critical seed-filling phase, 
resulting in lower yields (Nigam et al., 1998).  
It might be suggested in this study that the late 
planted crop had a shorter period for the 
production of seed and a slightly lower rate of 
seed production due to reduced growth, and 
exposure of plants to warmer and longer 
photoperiod (long day) after the late sowing 
date. These differences were also largely 
related to the number of developing seed on 
cob. Percent of protein content in grain 
significantly affected by dates of sowing in 
both the years, the highest protein value was 
recorded in 2012 year. 
 
Table 3. The result of variance analyses for all components measured of three corn genotypes in different sowing in 
2012 and 2013 years 
Variance 
Source d.f 
Calculated of Mean Square 
CL GN 1000SW Yield Protein Oil Ash Starch 
Y 1 30.932** ns 9842.293** ns ns ns ns ns 
G 2 25.977** ns ns 4.938* ns ns ns 3.484* 
S.D 1 81.571** 473389.868** 7609.364** 111.769** ns 3.731** 0.016** 9.151** 
YxG 2 49.414** 18902.626** ns ns ns ns ns ns 
YxS.D 1 ns ns 6605.087** ns 1.460** ns ns ns 
GxS.D 2 24.707** ns 4422.008** ns 1.342** ns 0.009* ns 
YxS.DxG 2 37.656** ns 3003.563* ns 1.465** ns ns ns 
LSD0.05 Y 1.182 ns 19.078 ns ns ns ns ns 
LSD0.05 G 1.447 55.031 ns 114.328 ns ns ns 0.809 
LSD0.05 S.D 1.182 ns 19.078 93.349 ns 0.121 0.029 0.661 
LSD0.05 YxG 2.047 77.826 ns ns ns ns ns ns 
LSD0.05 YxS.D ns ns 26.980 ns 0.478 ns ns ns 
LSD0.05 GxS.D 2.047 ns 33.043 ns 0.585 ns 0.049 ns 
LSD0.05 YxS.DxG 2.894 ns 46.730 ns 0.827 ns ns ns 
*** P<0.001; ** P<0.05, ns: non-significant, Y: Years, G: Genotype, S.D: Sowing Date, CL: Cob Length, GN: Grain Number per cob, 1000SW: 
Thousand Seed Weight, d.f: degree of freedom. 
 
Table 4. Growth characters of three hybrid corn as influenced by dates of sowing and years 
Treatments Cob lenght (cm) Number grain per cob (number) 1000 seed weight (g) Seed yield (kg ha) 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 
Sowing date         
30. April 21.75 24.11 703.51 752.48 317.22 357.97 1493.03 1576.53 
26. May 19.24 20.60 485.16 512.15 353.98 379.37 1040.29 1078.20 
Cultivars         
31G98 20.78 25.40 571.73 700.42 316.78 386.00 1111.50 1301.42 
NK-Arma  19.26 21.31 608.30 612.38 316.55 366.50 1272.06 1339.20 
Aveline 21.46 20.36 602,96 584.16 374.47 353.51 1416.39 1341.48 
 
229
Table 5. Grain quality parameters of three hybrid corn as influenced by dates of sowing and years 
Treatments Oil content (%) Protein (%) Ash (%) Starch content (%) 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 
Sowing date         
30. April 3.76 3.79 8.40 7.89 1.40 1.34 72.48 72.25 
26. May 3.14 3.12 7.76 7.97 1.34 1.38 73.44 73.31 
Cultivars         
31G98 3.44 3.44 8.07 8.11 1.41 1.40 72.85 71.66 
NK-Arma  3.36 3.41 8.20 7.61 1.38 1.36 72.76 73.27 
Aveline 3.55 3.51 8.10 8.06 1.39 1.38 73.05 73.41 
         
The changing of protein content affected by 
sowing was very different in terms of years and 
cultivars. Protein content was decreased by late 
sowing date in 2012, while it was 
insignificantly increased by sowing date in 
2013 (Table 5).  
Differences in oil content among sowing date 
are usually associated with differences in the 
proportion of the kernel constituted by the 
embryo in different stage. In both years oil 
content of cultivars were decreased by sowing 
date.  
The highest oil content from grain was obtained 
from Aveline corn hybrid in both years (Table 
5). There are conflict opinion in literature that 
Gyenes-Hegyi et al. (2001) also reported no 
significant effect of growing season on the oil 
content of the 12 single-cross maize hybrids 
studied in their two-year research, whereas  
other authors (Zhang et al., 1993) reported 
significant variations in protein and/or oil 
contents in different years.  
And also according to Fabijanac et al. (2006) 
point outed that the negative association 
between oil concentration and kernel weight 
can be partially explained by differences in the 
structural components of the kernel (i.e., the 
weight of the endosperm and the embryo).  
Hybrids with small kernels would have a higher 
proportion of their kernels as embryo and 
endosperm aleurone layer, which contain 
almost all of the total grain oil (Kereliuk and 
Sosulski, 1995). Therefore, the oil content 
obtained from early sowing, which has small 
grain was higher than that of late sowing. 
Hence, our results finding was agree with those 
results.  
The highest yielding hybrid, which was 
Aveline cultivars, had the highest grain starch 
content (Table 4 and 5). 
 
 
CONCLUSIONS 
 
In this study, corn hybrids commercially 
available at delayed sowing date cannot be 
successfully grown (4 weeks later than 
optimum) in Turkey because of having season 
shorter than full season maturity characteristics. 
All recently released hybrids, studied in our 
investigation, there were significantly 
differences among the cultivars in both sowing 
date.  
But in both years Aveline corn hybrid cultivar 
produced higher grain yields than the others 
corn hybrid.  
And also to achieve high oil, starch in corn 
grain, the cultivars, which have highest seed 
yield, can be selected in the future breeding 
program.  
Generally, late sowing date can easily disrupt 
the quality of grain in all corn cultivars. 
Therefore, it was suggested that eventough the 
Aegean climate has a long growing period and 
is a suitable environment for second crop corn 
growth, the selection of cultivar is very 
important to grown in terms of seed yield in 
late sowing date because of the fact that plant 
can be exposed to inappropriate excessive 
temperature during the vegetative period in late 
sowing date in Aegean region. 
 
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THE EFFECT OF SOWING DATE ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS AND SEED QUALITY OF CORN (Zea mays L.)

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THE EFFECT OF SOWING DATE ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS AND SEED QUALITY OF CORN (Zea mays L.)

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