Within-row spacing effect on individual corn plant yield

Past research has shown that modest non-uniformity of corn plant spacing has small, negative effects on grain yield. The extent to which this influence of distance to adjoining plants is due to compensatory yield adjustments is not known. In 2011 and 2012, high density stands in 76 cm rows were hand thinned to 74 130 plants ha-1 during early vegetative growth (V1-V2) to produce large variability in plant-to-plant, with-in row spacing. Individual ears were hand-harvested at physiological maturity after recording the distance of each plant to its nearest within-row neighbors. In 2011, there was no significant correlation between each plant’s individual space in the row and grain weight per plant (r = 0.0007 p = 0.60). In contrast, in 2012 there was a significant correlation (r = 0.12 p < 0.0001), and per-plant grain weight increased 2.5 g for each additional cm of space along the row. Plant spacing affected neither kernel weight nor kernel number per ear in 2011, but in 2012, kernel weight increased (by 2 mg) and kernel number (by 2.96 kernels per ear) for each additional cm of space occupied by a plant. The average per-plant grain yield was only slightly higher in 2011 (185 g) than in 2012 (180 g), but the pattern of weather was very different, with dry conditions late in 2011 and very dry conditions until after pollination in 2012, followed by late rainfall that helped grain fill. Thus while reducing variability of interplant spacing would seem to offer little benefit under good growing conditions, doing so under certain stress conditions might provide a yield benefit.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Crop Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Thompson, Tyler

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nafziger, Emerson D.

• Corn
• Crop production
• Within-row spacing
• Planting
• Spacing Variation
• Kernel Weight
• Kernel Number

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Tyler Thompson

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/46614

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/46614