Yield potential in corn is influenced at several stages of growth and development
406 articles tagged "Agronomy Tips".
The post-pollination scuttlebutt overheard in coffee shops throughout Indiana during late summer often revolves around the potential for severe stress that might reduce kernel set or kernel size in neighborhood cornfields.
The grain fill period begins with successful pollination and initiation of kernel development, and ends approximately 60 days later when the kernels are physiologically mature. During grain fill, the developing kernels are the primary sink for concurrent photosynthate produced by the corn plant.
The other day, one of the patrons of Rudy’s Bar and Grill walks in with an ear of corn that exhibited long, flowing locks of blonde silks tumbling down the sides of the husk leaves and asked two questions: “Why are the silks so long?” and “Do such long silks bode ill for the success of corn pollination?”
– Corn produces individual male and female flowers on the same plant.
– The ear represents the female flower of the corn plant.
– Severe soil moisture deficits can delay silk emergence and disrupt the synchrony of pollen shed and silk availability, resulting in poor kernel set.
Excessive rainfall and flooding often result in the loss of applied and soil-derived nitrogen (N).
Providing sufficient but not excessive nitrogen (N) to corn is difficult especially with fall and early spring fertilizer applications where N loss can vary substantially with the timing of the application relative to the occurrence of warm soil and excessive rainfall.
Depending on the year, Indiana’s corn crop typically enters the critical flowering stages of pollen shed and silk emergence sometime between late June to late July.
Intense rainfall events (technically referred to as “toad stranglers” or “goose drownders”) flood low-lying corn fields and create ponding (standing water) in poorly drained areas (depressions, compacted soil) within other fields.
Over the last few years, we have been documenting some remarkable soybean yield responses (upwards of 13 bushels) to sulfur (S) in northwestern Indiana.
