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Section 3. Agricultural sciences
https://doi.org/10.29013/ESR-20-9.10-12-17
Nurbekov Aziz Israilovich, doctor of agricultural sciences, Tashkent State Agrarian University Dossymbek Sydyk, doctor of agricultural sciences, professor, Tashkent State Agrarian University Ulugov Chorsham, PhD in agriculture, Tashkent State Agrarian University Rakhimova Dilobar Ibragimovna, South-Western Research Institute of Livestock and Crop Production, South Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan E-mail: nurbekov2002@yahoo.com
EFFECT OF PLANTING DATE ON PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L. SSP.) IN SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN
Abstract. Abstract. Kazakhstan's 16 million population occupy a land area of 2.7 million square kilometers, which is 70% of the land of Central Asia, but only 30% of the total population of the region. About 15 M ha of Kazakhstan's land area is used for crop production. The national average maize yield is about 4.6 tons ha-1, while potential exists for increasing the yield to over 8 tons ha-1 through increased use of improved hybrids or varieties, fertilizers and good crop husbandry including optimum planting date. The main objective of this experiment was to study different planting date in the irrigated conditions of South Kazakhstan province. Taking this into account field experiment was conducted in 2018-2019 year, in Chymkent province of Kazakhstan. A randomized complete block design with four replications was established to study yield potential and economics of improved fodder production. The experimental data analysis was performed using GenStat program 17th edition. Four planting dates April 15, April 30, May 15 and May 30 were evaluated to study maize biomass ad grain yield including other agronomic traits. The planting date analysis showed that the best sowing date was April 30, and biomass and grain yields of other three dates were relatively lower. The results of this study show that planting dates have significant effects on number of plants, biomass and grain yield in maize.
Keywords: Maize, planting date, seed germination, plant height, grain and biomass yield.
Introduction
Kazakhstan's 16 million population occupy a land area of 2.7 million square kilometers, which is 70% of the land of Central Asia, but only 30% of the total population of the region. About 15 M ha of Kazakhstan's land area is used for crop production. Kazakhstan can be subdivided into three geographical locations: the south, where most irrigated agriculture is undertaken; the north, which is suited for rainfed farming and livestock production; and the wide central region, which is semi-desert steppe suitable mainly for extensive grazing. Traditionally, agriculture in south Kazakhstan (SK) is dominated by mid-size and small farms. Agricultural production is based on irrigated farming. Wheat, barley alfalfa A significant part of the cropping area is located in the area of insufficient water supply. Therefore, improving agricultural production in irrigated areas through water-saving technologies is critical for achieving sustainable economic development of the region. Maize grain production is amounted to 462.000 tonnes while total area is 95600 hectares in Kazakhstan (FAO [7]). The national average maize yield is about 4.6 tons ha-1, while potential exists for increasing the yield to over 8 tons ha-1 through increased use of improved hybrids or varieties, fertilizers and good crop husbandry including optimum planting date. Low maize productivity is associated with several constraints, including water shortage during the vegetation period, land degradation, biotic and abiotic stresses, and uncertain planting dates. Successful corn production requires an understanding of the various management practices and environmental conditions affecting crop performance. Planting date, seeding rates, hybrid selection, tillage, fertilization, and pest control all influence corn yield in the irrigated conditions. Olson and Sander [10] found that crop management practices such planting date, N fertilizer rate, hybrid maturity selection and harvest timing can affect grain yield, moisture and test weight. The keys to developing a successful production system are to recognize and understand the types of interactions that occur among production factors, as well as vari-
ous yield limiting factors, and to develop management systems that maximize the beneficial aspect of each interaction in the irrigated conditions ofSouth Kazakhstan. Knowledge of corn growth and development is also essential to use cultural practices more efficiently to obtain higher yields and profits. A. N. Silantev [13] reported the positive effect of early planting on maize grain and biomass yield. Early planting generally produces shorter plants with better standability while delayed planting increases the risk of frost damage to corn and may subject the crop to greater injury from various late insect and disease pest problems, such as Ustilago maydis and some other diseases in the irrigated conditions of South Kazakhstan (Sydyk et al. [5]). The main objective of this study is to determine optimum planting date in the irrigated conditions of South Kazakhstan province.
Soil characterization and climate
The soils are sirozem, gray-brown, brown desert, takyr-like, and in the irrigated area -meadow-marshy, mostly saline with salt amount of 33 to 325 t/ha in 2 m layer and humus content of 0.5 to 2.5% in the cultivated layer. The soil of experimental site is rather dense with the bulk density fluctuating between 1.4 and 1.6 g/cm3. The highest bulk density was noted in the depth of 20-40 cm. All soil parameters were analyzed by the method developed in Uzbek Research Institute of Cotton (UzRIC [14]). Over the past 12 years, more than 50% of fields in the whole Arys district have been ranked as low to very low in P2O5. Almost all the areas of the project pilot site are located in hunger desert zones.
Climatic conditions of SK are very diverse, comprising steppes, hot and dry semi-deserts, and mountains.. The climate is continental, with hot temperatures and low air humidity in summer time and cold and quiet unstable winter with low snow fall. Average frost-free period lasts for about 225 days. Average daily temperature is 16.9 °C. A long term annual precipitation level is around 350 mm. However, rainfall varies strongly over the year. Precipitation starts to fall at the end of September and early October. The highest pre-
cipitation falls in winter and spring seasons (78%) followed by autumn (18%) and summer (4%). Low precipitation level permits only irrigated crop production.
Research methods
Availability of earlier hybrids with shorter plants, lower leaf number, upright leaves, smaller tassels and reduced anthesis silking interval has enhanced the ability of maize to withstand high plant populations without showing excessive barrenness (Sangoi [11]. Newly improved maize early maturing hybrid Uz-bekistan-601 from Uzbekistan research station of maize was brought and was planted at two household fields on four different planting dates. Experiments were conducted under irrigated conditions in 2018 and 2019 to determine the optimum combination of planting date to maximize the yield of maize. A randomizedcomplete block design with four repli-cationswas established to study yield potential and economics of improved fodder production. Four planting dates (April 15, repeated every 15 days until May 30) were evaluated for maize biomass yield with its agronomic traits. Seed was placed with 6 cm of soil cover in all treatments. Considering the importance of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), recommended fertilizer rate was held constant for all treatments each year and the fertilizer rate was N, 0 P K The maize field was irri-
180 90 60
gated three times during the vegetation period at the rates 600 m3. Field data for both experiments were collected on seed germination, plant density, plant height, days to maturity, grain and biomass yield. We determined number of plants per m-2 at the stage of plant maturity. The experimental data analysis was performed using GenStat program 17th edition.
Results
Corn seed begins germination when the seed contains at least 25-30% moisture. Adequate soil mois-
ture is most important feature to get rapid, uniform germination and emergence of maize and help set the stage for maximum grain yield at the end of the season. The data in Table 1 indicated that seed germination of maize was significantly (< 0.001) affected by years with highest seed germination of 82.6% obtained in farmer 2, when the crop was sown on May 30 in 2009. Lowest seed germination of64.9% was noted, in farmer 1, with planting on 15 April in 2008. In our experiment four planting dates showed a relatively small trend of seed germination. The seed germination ranged from 64.9 to 82.6% across treatments, farms and years. At planting date on 30 May, the seed germination increased up to 27% during the vegetation period. Farms not differed significantly (0.004) for seed germination.
Number of plants per m2 is the most important agronomic trait to determine maize biomass and grain yield. Number of plants was significantly affected by treatment i.e. planting dates while year and farm were not significant (table 2). The highest number of plants per m2 was 9.35 in farm 1 in the treatment where maize was sown on April 30, 2018. The lowest number of plants was recorded (6.55) also in farm 2 where maize was planted on 30 May, 2019. Number of plants per m2 ranged from 6.55 to 9.35 across the years and treatments.
On the basis of our experiment it was found that the maize crop grew the tallest (291 cm) and a high biomass yield when the plant is planted on May 15 (Table 2). The results revealed that plant height is an important variety trait and late sowing date reduced plant height. ANOVA statistics show that there were significant differences in maize plant height within years, treatments and farms (< 0.001). There was also close interaction between year and treatment on maize plant height while there was not interaction between year and farm, farm and treatment (Table 1).
Table 1.- Analysis of variance of maize plant height
Source of variation d.f. s.s. m.s. v.r. F pr.
1 2 3 4 5 6
Year 1 32861.4 32861.4 101.63 < 0.001
1 2 3 4 5 6
Farm 1 4009.7 4009.7 12.4 < 0.001
T 3 18583.4 6194.5 19.16 < 0.001
Year.Farm 1 326.6 326.6 1.01 0.32
Year.T 3 8405.3 2801.8 8.67 < 0.001
Farm.T 3 470.3 156.8 0.48 0.694
Year.Farm.T 3 510.2 170.1 0.53 0.667
Residual 48 15520.2 323.3
Total 63 80687.2
Remarks: d.f - Degree of freedom; m.s - means square; v.r - variance ratio; F - F-test statistic
Results showed that planting dates effects on biomass yield were significant (Table 3). Biomass yield decreased with subsequently delays sowing. Dale and Drennan (1997) reported final biomass yields were consistently higher with early planting. The result is in line with our results. The highest biomass yield of 15.6 tons ha-1 was recorded with planting date on April 30, while the lowest biomass yield of 6.4 tons ha-1 was obtained with late sowing (May 30). Number of plants per m-2 had significant (< 0.001) effect on biomass yield as biomass yield increased
Grain yield is obviously one of the most important factors to determine total production of maize. Results on grain yield (Table 3) revealed that planting
progressively with successive increase in number of plants. Biomass yield (13,5 t ha -1) was highest at a density of 8.8 plants m-2 with sowing on April 30, whereas lowest biomass yield (6.4 t ha -1) was found at a density of 6.55 plants m-2 with 30 May planting. Megyes et al. (1999) also reported significant biomass yield reduction at lowest plant density. Analysis of variance showed the reported biomass yield had significant difference within treatments (< 0.001) while number of plants within farms was unrelated to biomass yield (Table 3).
date April 30 in farm 1 and farm 2 gave highest grain yield at a density of 8.80 and 8.91 m-2, respectively. The 2008 and 2009 growing conditions for maize
Table 2.- Seed germination, plant density and height of maize at the experimental in South Kazakhstan
Farm Treatment Seed germination,% Number of plants, m2 Plant height, cm
2018 2019 Average 2018 2019 Average 2018 2019 Average
F1 15-Aprl 77.8 64.9 71.3 8.60 7.58 8.09 230.0 283.8 257
30-Aprl 72.8 69.5 71.2 9.35 8.25 8.80 238.5 284.2 261
15-May 74.3 66.6 70.5 8.75 7.72 8.24 257.1 325.5 291
30-May 78.5 65.5 72.0 7.07 7.08 7.08 242.5 237.8 240
F2 15-Aprl 74.8 74.8 74.8 8.19 8.20 8.20 210.7 260.5 236
30-Aprl 70.0 78.6 74.3 8.90 8.92 8.91 218.4 269.8 244
15-May 71.5 71.7 71.6 8.33 8.34 8.34 235.4 311.3 273
30-May 75.5 82.6 79.1 7.43 6.55 6.99 222.1 244.5 233
ANOVA Year < 0.001 0.083 < 0.001
Farm 0.004 0.715 < 0.001
Treatment 0.229 < 0.001 < 0.001
in South Kazakhstan were, in general, very favorable with near (2018) and above average(2019) rainfall. Low climatic and disease pressureresulting in higher grain yields in 2018 compared to 2019. P. Thomison et al, 2009 reported that excessive rainfall may cause serious injury to a corn crop depending on its stage of development and decrease productivity. Grain
Table 3.- Biomass and grain
Discussion
Decrease of 8 and 40% in grain yield under early and late sowing, respectively might be due to lower nutrient uptake and reduced photosynthetic translocation in the developing grain. It is therefore, evident that April 30 is optimum planting time for maize grain production in South Kazakhstan province. These results are in line with Fakorede [6] who also reported a decrease of 30-38 kg ha-1 in maize grain yield for each day of delayed sowing. Ahmad et al. [1] concluded that delayed sowing decreased shelling percentage, which ultimately resulted in lower grain yield. Highest grain yield with optimum planting time has been reported by Martiniello [8] and Albus et al. [2]. Mc Williams D. A. [9] reported positive effect of planting date on maize yield. This is in line with our results. The planting date analysis showed that the best sowing date was April 30, and
yield was lowest for planting date 30 May at a density of 7.08 plants m -2. Grain yield was highest with April 30 planting (Table 3). Yield reduction was associated with planting dates. High yields can thus be obtained by planting date. The results revealed that grain yield was decreased by 2.0 and 0.7 t ha-1, with early and late planting.
yield of maize (2018-2019)
biomass and grain yields of other three dates were relatively lower (Table 3).
Conclusion. In our experiment four planting dates showed a relatively small trend of seed germination. The seed germination ranged from 64.9 to 82.6% across treatments, farms and years.
Number of plants was significantly affected by treatment i.e. planting dates while year and farm were not significant.
On the basis of our experiment it was found that the maize crop grew the tallest (291 cm) and a high biomass yield when the plant is planted on May 15. ANOVA statistics show that there were significant differences in maize plant height within years, treatments and farms (< 0.001). There was also close interaction between year and treatment on maize plant height.
Results showed that planting dates effects on biomass yield were significant (Table 2). Biomass yield decreased with subsequently delays sowing.
Farms Treatment Biomass yield, t/ha Grain Yield, t/ha
2018 2019 Mean 2018 2109 Mean
Farm 1 15-Aprl 11.8 8.3 10.0 4.4 3.9 4.2
30-Aprl 15.6 11.5 13.5 7.4 4.9 6.2
15-May 14.5 12.4 13.5 6.0 5.0 5.5
30-May 12.9 7.4 10.2 5.7 4.8 5.2
Farm 2 15-Aprl 9.5 7.3 8.4 4.7 3.6 4.1
30-Aprl 12.5 10.3 11.4 6.8 4.6 5.7
15-May 12.8 9.4 11.1 5.1 4.7 4.9
30-May 11.8 6.4 9.1 4.1 3.3 3.7
ANOVA Farm <0.001 <0.001
Year <0.001 <0.001
T <0.001 <0.001
Analysis of variance showed the reported biomass yield had significant difference within treatments (< 0.001) while number of plants within farms was unrelated to biomass yield.
The planting date analysis showed that the best sowing date was April 30, and biomass and grain yields of other three dates were relatively lower.
The results of this study show that planting dates have significant effects on number of plants, biomass and grain yield in maize.
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