Response of dry matter translocation and grain yield of summer maize to biodegradable film in the North China Plain

Abstract

In the North China Plain, it is a matter of urgency to explore the feasibility of using biodegradable film to replace polyethylene film. A field experiment was conducted by covering soils with polyethylene white film, biodegradable white film, biodegradable black film, while the control remained uncovered. This study analysed the effects of using different film types on summer maize dry matter accumulation and transfer, grain yield and yield components during the 2016 and 2017 summer maize growing seasons. Results showed that, for both growing seasons, compared with non-mulching, dry matter translocation, dry matter transfer efficiency of vegetative organs and grain yield for plants following polyethylene white film and biodegradable white film treatments were always lower. However, dry matter accumulation, dry matter translocation, dry matter transfer efficiency, grain yield, and the contribution of dry matter translocation to grain yield before flowering in biodegradable black film treatments significantly increased by 21.0, 33.3, 21.4, 12.6, and 18.5%, respectively. Only the black biodegradable film could increase grain yield as determined by the 1000 kernel mass. Results indicate that black biodegradable films are a viable alternative to polyethylene film in summer maize production in the North China Plain. K e y w o r d s: polyethylene film, leaf area index, dry matter transfer, yield components, North China Plain

Effect of the Rate of Nitrogen Application on Dry Matter Accumulation and Yield Formation of Densely Planted Maize

“…The fundamental way to obtain a high yield is to improve the ability of plants to produce dry matter after flowering and the ability of dry matter to transport nutrients to the grains [12,[46][47][48][49]. Ma et al [40] showed that the rate of dry matter accumulation was the highest, and the yield was the highest when the nitrogen application rate was 306.5 kg ha −1 .…”

Nitrogen Supply Regulates Vascular Bundle Structure and Matter Transport Characteristics of Spring Maize Under High Plant Density

“…However, other studies have clarified that the source and sink were not the dominant limiting factors for the grain filling rate of maize under appropriate N input and without abiotic stresses, but the dominant limiting factors was the dry matter (DM) accumulation and how much of assimilation distribute to each organ ( Pan et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2011 ; Gasura et al, 2013 ; Shen et al, 2017 ). Additionally, previous study indicated that the assimilation source of grain filling mainly came from the current assimilation post-silking and the vegetative organ stored in the pre-silking ( Fu et al, 2011 ; Tan et al, 2020 ). In this study, although translocation efficiency of vegetative organs at the at the silking (R1) stage to the milking (R3) stages was higher than that at the R3 to maturity (R6) stages, the grain translocation efficiency was only 2.3% (R1 to R3) to 17.2% (R3 to R6) during the whole grain-filling period of maize, and with increased N input, this efficiency decreased.…”

Responses of dry matter accumulation and partitioning to drought and subsequent rewatering at different growth stages of maize in Northeast China

“…Studies on DMP have concentrated on the effects of such factors as planting density ( Liu et al., 2011 ), sowing date ( Dou et al., 2017 ), cultivation type ( Wang et al., 2015 ; Cai et al., 2021 ) and soil fertilizer ( Dai et al., 2008 ; Wei et al., 2017 ). There have also been some studies on the effects of drought on DMP ( Jiang et al., 2018 ; Mi et al., 2018 ; Tan et al., 2019 ), but these have not generally considered roots, especially total root biomass, thus restricting in-depth understanding of relevant mechanisms.…”