Effect of climatic zones and sowing dates on maize emergence and leaf parameters
2019
ʻĀṣim, Muḥammad | Basit, Abdul | Misbahullah,
Variability in climate context is causing direct effects on reducing crops production. Possible strategies to counteract the impact of climate change is to configure the sowing time of crops and to seek out crop cultivars that are adapted to extreme climatic conditions of a specific ecological zone. Experiments were conducted at three ecological zones of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan i.e. (i. Agronomy Research Farm, The University Agriculture Peshawar ii. Agriculture Research Institute, Mingora, Swat iii. Farmers field, Karak, during the summer season, 2017–2018). Experiment was laid-out in Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement having four replications. Maize cultivars i.e. local open pollinated varieties (Azam, Jalal) and two hybrids (CS-200, CS-220) were sown on different dates starting from May 25 to July 25 with twenty days interval. Analysis of the data showed that early sowing (25th May) of maize in all zones (Karak, Peshawar and Swat) resulted in maximm emergence m−2, early emergence, highest leaf area, leaf area index, maximum light interception and higher chlorophyll content. However, delay in sowing time from 15th June onward in all zones resulted in lower emergence m−2, delay in emergence, reduced leaf area, leaf area index, lower light interception and chlorophyll content. Maize hybrids (CS-200 and CS-220) exhibited maximum emergence m−2, days to emergence, leaf area, chlorophyll content and light interception. At all zones (Karak, Peshawar and Swat) early sowing of maize hybrids (25th May to 15th June) is recommended for maintaining proper emergence parameters and improved leaf configuration for efficient resources utilization.
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