Experiment was conducted with three water levels such as 100, 75 and 50 % with three spacing, viz. normal, narrow and reduced narrow spacing of maize. Reducing the plant spacing, enhanced the plant population per unit area which increases maize yield even under reduced soil moisture level. Individual treatments of normal irrigation practice, narrow plant spacing and its interaction registered better performance of kernel, stover yield and yield attributes

G VELU

K VANITHA

T PARTHASARATHI

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Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important foodcrop grown worldwide. Decrease of water allocation in aridand semi-arid regions lead to water scarcity with significantimpact on reducing agricultural production (Kirda et al.1999). Van Roekel and Coulter (2011) noted that cornhybrids have been bred for increased tolerance to the stressesassociated with high plant population and drought to getmaximum yield. Drought stress on maize hybrids and varietysignificantly affects yield parameters (Mostafavi et al. 2011).Interaction of irrigation and cultivar was significant onharvest index and seed yield (Khalili et al. 2013). The goalof present experiment is to study the effect of water deficit,plant density on maize yield and assessing the impact onyield components and its contribution to yield.MATERIALS AND METHODSField experiment was conducted in Tamil NaduAgricultural University, Coimbatore. Soil physiochemicalparameters such as pH (8.34), EC (0.65 dS/m), FC (42.25%), PWP (30.05 %), ASM (10.74 %), available NPK (420,15.2, 550 kg/ha) and OC (0.48 %) were observed. Normalirrigation water (0.8 IW/CPE ratio: 500 mm) (I1), 75% ofirrigation water (0.6 IW/CPE ratio: 375 mm) (I2) and 50%of irrigation water (0.4 IW/CPE ratio: 250 mm) (I3) weresupplied through main plots using COH (M) 5 maize hybrid.Irrigation water was quantified by parshall flume (Parshall1926). Normal (S1: 60 cm × 20 cm), narrow (S2: 30 cm ×30 cm) and reduced narrow spacing (S3: 45 cm × 20 cm)1 Ph D Scholar (e mail: parthasarathicrp@gmail.com), 2 SeniorResearch Fellow (e mail: vanithacrp@gmail.com), 3 Professor(e mail: gopalvelu@rediffmail.com), Department of CropPhysiology43Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 84 (6): 711–3, June 2014/ArticleImpact of soil moisture and plant population on yield components andyield of maize (Zea mays)T PARTHASARATHI1, K VANITHA2 and G VELU3Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 003Received: 25 April 2012; Revised accepted: 26 March 2014ABSTRACTExperiment was conducted with three water levels such as 100, 75 and 50 % with three spacing, viz. normal,narrow and reduced narrow spacing of maize. Reducing the plant spacing, enhanced the plant population per unitarea which increases maize yield even under reduced soil moisture level. Individual treatments of normal irrigationpractice, narrow plant spacing and its interaction registered better performance of kernel, stover yield and yieldattributes.Key words: Kernel yield, Plant Density, Relative water content, Stover yield, Test weightwere adopted in sub plots. Relative water content (RWC)was estimated and expressed in percentage (Barrs andWeatherly 1962). Yield and its components were analyzedby the method of Grant et al. (1989) at physiologicalmaturity. This experiment adopted split plot design withfour replication and data were analyzed using ANOVA(Gomez and Gomez 1984).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONA significantly increased RWC of 86.7% recorded innormal irrigation with narrow spacing (Table 1) and 75%water supply with narrow spacing recorded moderate RWC(70.6%). Reducing soil moisture and increased plantpopulation compromise the yield limitation in 75 and 50%irrigation water supply with narrow spacing. This was dueto mild water deficit can recover leaf RWC to the level ofnormal irrigation after resuming well-watered condition(Rivera-Hernandez et al. 2010). The plants receiving normalirrigation and narrow spacing treatments (100% water supplywith narrow spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm) registered highergrain yield of 6477.5 kg/ha which leads to higher stoveryield (12602.8 kg/ha) as well as yield components such ascob length (24.3 cm), cob girth (18.5 cm), cob dry weight(144.6 g/cob), filled kernel number (410.0) and kernel dryweight (112.3 g/cob) than the rest of the treatments (Table2). Narrow rows help offset the reduction in time byfacilitating crop canopies that either reach maximum lightinterception by flowering or sooner than wider rows(Andrade et al. 2002) favoured such an increased yield andits components.Reduction in cob length and girth under water deficit(75 and 50%) and plant population stress (reduced narrowspacing) were observed. Increased plant population produceshttps://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v84i6.41449712 [Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 84 (6)44PARTHASARATHI ET AL.smaller cobs (length and girth) due to shading effect.Mokhtarpour et al. (2005) also found reduction of earlength in maize. Kernel yield was closely linked to filledkernel number, test weight and harvest index are determinedby the physiological efficiency of the crop (Zamir et al.2011). Stover yield increases which increasing plant spacingbut decreases with water deficit. Present results followedthe experiment of Kheibari et al. (2012) in baby corn. But,further reduction causes yield decline due to competitionfor water and nutrients.REFERENCESAndrade F H, Calvino P, Cirilo A and Barbieri P. 2002. Yieldresponses to narrow rows depend on increased radiationinterception. Agronomy Journal 94: 975–80.Barrs H D and Weatherly P E. 1962. A re-examination of relativeturgidity for estimating water deficits in leaves. AustralianJournal of Biological Science 15: 413–28.Gomez K A and Gomez A A. 1984. Statistical Procedures forAgricultural Research, 2nd Edn, p 680. John Wiley and Sons,New York, USA.Grant R F, Jackson B S, Kiniry J R and Arkin G F. 1989. Waterdeficit timing on yield components of maize. Agronomy Journal81: 61–5.Khalili M, Naghavi M R, Aboughadareh A P and Rad H N. 2013.Effects of drought stress on yield and yield components inmaize cultivars (Zea mays L.). International Journal ofAgronomy and Plant Production 4(4): 809–12.Kheibari M, Khorasani S K and Taheri G. 2012. Effects of plantdensity and variety on some of morphological traits, yield andyield components of baby corn (Zea mays L.). InternationalResearch Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences 3(10): 2 009–14.Kirda C, Moutonnet P, Hera C and Nielsen D R. 1999. Crop YieldResponse to Deficit Irrigation, p 258. Kluwer AcadamicPublication, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.Mokhtarpour H, Mosavat S, Bazi M and Saberi A. 2005. EffectsTable 1 Physiological effect of yield on maize under reducing soil moisture regimes and plant densityIrrigation/Water supply Spacing RWC Test weight Stover yield Kernel yield(%) (g) (kg/ha) (kg/ha)Normal irrigation (100 % water supply) 60 × 20 cm 80.6b 25.9a 11290.9b 5592.3b30 × 30 cm 86.7a 29.1a 12602.8a 6477.5a45 × 20 cm 75.4c 27.6a 10391.0c 5811.8b75 % water supply 60 × 20 cm 68.7e 27.5a 9746.0d 4612.9d30 × 30 cm 70.6e 25.2b 10022.8c 4918.8c45 × 20 cm 70.8d 28.2a 8462.2e 3755.9e50 % water supply 60 × 20 cm 69.2e 21.5c 7201.5f 3286.6f30 × 30 cm 59.3f 27.1a 7395.4f 3458.4f45 × 20 cm 54.2g 20.9c 7100.5f 2918.9gMean 70.6 25.9 9357.0 4537.0Irrigation CD (P = 0.05) 1.982** 1.609** 127.31** 103.00**Spacing CD (P = 0.05) 2.075** 1.142** 121.61** 155.58**Irrigation × Spacing CD (P = 0.05) 1.027** 1.311** 213.98** 242.94**Spacing × Irrigation CD (P = 0.05) 1.198** 0.659** 210.63** 269.47**Table 2 Yield components of maize under irrigation regimes and plant density levelsIrrigation/Water supply Spacing Cob length Cob girth Cob dry Filled kernel Kernel dry(cm) (cm) weight (g) (number) weight (g)Normal irrigation 60 × 20 cm 21.9b 17.5b 137.9a 363.5a 103.0b(100% water supply) 30 × 30 cm 24.3a 18.5a 144.6a 410.0a 112.3a45 × 20 cm 21.1c 15.4e 103.9d 317.8a 86.5c75% water supply 60 × 20 cm 22.5b 16.7c 126.3b 394.8a 105.4b30 × 30 cm 22.6b 16.1d 111.2c 373.5a 83.7c45 × 20 cm 22.0b 17.2b 107.1c 333.5a 74.8d50% water supply 60 × 20 cm 22.2b 16.5c 121.1b 340.0a 101.7b30 × 30 cm 22.5b 16.8c 129.2b 323.5a 100.5b45 × 20 cm 21.9b 16.5c 114.2c 269.3a 82.7cMean 22.33 16.80 121.72 347.32 94.51Irrigation CD (P = 0.05) 0.360** 0.125** 3.165** 8.366** 2.028**Spacing CD (P = 0.05) 0.291** 0.148** 2.201** 18.590** 1.297**Irrigation × Spacing CD (P = 0.05) 0.548** 0.244** 4.439** 27.589** 2.735**Spacing × Irrigation CD (P = 0.05) 0.505** 0.256** 3.813** 32.198** 2.247**713June 2014] IMPACT OF SOIL MOISTURE AND PLANT POPULATION ON MAIZE45of sowing date and plant density on ear yield of sweet corn(Zea mays L. var saccharata) KSC403su. Iranian Journal ofCrop Sciences 8: 171–83.Mostafavi K H, Geive S H, Dadresan M and Zarabi M. 2011.Effects of drought stress on germination indices of corn hybrids(Zea mays L.). Journal of Agricultural Sciences 1(2): 10–8.Parshall R L. 1926. The improved venturi flume. Transactions,ASCE 89: 841–51.Rivera-Hernandez B, Carrillo-Avila E, Obrador-Olan J J, Juarez-Lopez J F and Aceves-Navarro L A. 2010. Morphologicalquality of sweet corn (Zea mays L.) ears as response to soilmoisture tension and phosphate fertilization in Campeche.Mexico Agriculture Water Management 97(9): 1 365–74.Van Roekel R J and Coulter J A. 2011. Agronomic responses ofcorn to planting date and plant population. Agronomy Journal103: 1 414–22.Zamir M S I, Ahmad A H, Javeed H M R and Latif T. 2011.Growth and yield behaviour of two maize hybrids towardsdifferent plant spacing. Cercetãri Agronomice în Moldova2(146): 33–40.

Impact of soil moisture and plant population on yield components and yield of maize (Zea mays)

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Impact of soil moisture and plant population on yield components and yield of maize (Zea mays)

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