Morphological quality of sweet corn ( Zea mays L.) ears as response to soil moisture tension and phosphate fertilization in Campeche, Mexico

In Mexico, corn production, part of which is sweet corn, is mainly destined for human consumption. In the present work, the morphological quality of sweet corn ears was assessed in response to four levels of soil moisture tension indicating irrigation start (−5, −30, −55, and −80 kPa) and three leve...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Agricultural water management 2010-09, Vol.97 (9), p.1365-1374
Main Authors:	Rivera-Hernández, B., Carrillo-Ávila, E., Obrador-Olán, J.J., Juárez-López, J.F., Aceves-Navarro, L.A.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions Biological and medical sciences Carstic soils Corn Drip irrigation Drying Ear Ear characteristics Fertilization Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General agronomy. Plant production Hybrid A7573 Hybrid A7573 Ear characteristics Drip irrigation Vertisols Carstic soils Tensiometers Irrigation Mathematical models Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium fertilizations Phosphates Phosphorus fertilization Physical properties Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils Soil moisture Soil science Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments Sweets Tensiometers Vertisols Water and solute dynamics
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	In Mexico, corn production, part of which is sweet corn, is mainly destined for human consumption. In the present work, the morphological quality of sweet corn ears was assessed in response to four levels of soil moisture tension indicating irrigation start (−5, −30, −55, and −80 kPa) and three levels of phosphate fertilization (60, 80 and 100 kg ha −1) in carstic soils in the south-east of Mexico. A factorial experimental design with three replicates was used. The following variables were determined: fresh weight ( SCFWh), dry weight ( SCDWh), diameter ( SCDh), and length ( SCLh) of sweet corn ears, all without husk, as well as number of kernels ( NKxE), number of unfilled kernels ( NUK), number of rows ( NRxE), and dry kernel weight per ear ( DKW). Yield of fresh ( YFSCh) and dry ( YDSCh) sweet corn ears, both without husk, and the harvest index ( HI) were also determined. HI did not show significant statistical differences among irrigation or fertilization treatments. Regarding the other variables, the effect of the more humid treatments (−5 and −30 kPa) and the effect of the higher phosphorus doses (80 and 100 kg ha −1) were statistically equal ( P ≤ 0.01) with the lowest NUK and the highest values of all other variables; therefore, irrigation start at soil moisture tension of −30 kPa and phosphate fertilization application of 80 kg ha −1 are recommended. At this level of soil moisture, the mean values over the three fertilization levels and all the replicates, obtained for SCFWh, SCDh, SCLh and NKxE were 198.5 g, 4.39 cm, 26.72 cm and 467 grains, respectively. According to the regression models, moisture tensions from −11.8 to −24.0 kPa, and phosphate fertilization doses from 87.7 to 102.2 kg ha −1 minimize NUK and maximize the values of the rest of the variables. The highest irrigation water use efficiency was found in the moisture tension treatment of −30 kPa with an increase of 27 kg ha −1 ears for each millimeter of applied irrigation water.
ISSN:	0378-3774 1873-2283