STUDIES ON RELATIONSHIP OF GROWTH STAGES OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.) WITH WEATHER PARAMETERS IN MID HILLS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2016
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was carried out during kharif season of 2015 to study the relationship of growth stages of maize (Zea mays L.) with weather parameters in mid hills of Himachal Pradesh. The experiment consist of three dates of sowing viz., 10-06-2015,20-06-2015 and 30-06-2015 with two cultivars Vyas and HP 333 under irrigated and rain fed conditions, in the Experimental Farm under the department of Environmental Science, College of Forestry, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Results indicated that the early sown maize cultivar HP-333 recorded high grain yield of 25.7 qha-1 by taking 138 days to mature under irrigated conditions. The delay in planting gradually decreased the yield by 8.8qha-1 due to shortened length of crop season by 34 days. The correlation coefficient among phenological stages and weather elements revealed that soil temperature at 5 cm depth reported high significance (r = 0.986). At grain development stage, relative humidity (0.874) dominated over sunshine hours (0.684).Various thermal indices including growing degree days (GDD), heliothermal units (HTU), heat use efficiency (HUE)and photothermal index for maize were calculated using standard methods .The accumulated GDD (1867.47 oC day) required to attain physiological maturity was significantly higher under early sown maize cultivar HP-333 as compared to late sown Vyas cultivar. The accumulated HTU (23328.39 oC day hr.) calculated for early sown was higher than late sown varieties. Thus, HP-333 observed to be more efficient due to high heat use efficiency (HUE= 0.17g (oC day )-1) during early sown maize as compared to late sown (HUE= 0.04g(oC day )-1). Regression models were developed to predict the flag leaf stage, milking, physiological maturity and grain yield based on accumulated GDD and accumulated HTU. Accumulated GDD predicted the grain yield more accurately (R2= 0.91).
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maize, sowing, fruits, irrigation, sowing date, developmental stages, crops, yields, planting, grain, Maize (Zea mays L.),weather parameters in mid hills of Himachal Pradesh.