Effect of Different Planting Densities on Yield and Dry Matter Production Characters of New Corn Variety Ruyan 818
The effects of different planting densities(60 000,67 500,75 000,82 500,90 000,97500 plants/hm2)on agro-nomic characters,dry matter accumulation and distribution,grain-filling process were studied in order to study the effects of high planting densities on the new summer maize variety Ruyan 818 in Shandong South-West area.The results showed that with the increase of planting density,the yield per unit area increased first and then decreased,the plant height and the leaf area index also increased first and then decreased,with the highest value at D5 treatment.The dry matter accumulation per plant showed no difference between the D1 to D5 treatments before silking,while the whole plant dry matter accumula-tion especially the stalk allocation proportion showed a dounward trend.The average contribution for leaf and stalk dry ma-tter remobilization to grain was 18.9%and 81.1%,respectively.With the increase of planting density,the contribution of dry matter remobilization to grain for both the leaf and stalk increased.The grain-filling rate and grain water dehydration rate in the later grain-filling stage decreased and consequently with the lower grain numbers,fewer 100-kernel weight.The suitable planting density range was 75 000 to 82 500 plants per hectare for Ruyan 818.