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Pak. J. Bot., 44(6): 1933-1938, 2012. |
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Updated: 14-12-12 | ||||
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MAIZE GROWTH AND YIELD IN PESHAWAR UNDER CHANGING CLIMATE
ABDULLAH SHAH1, M. AKMAL1*, M. ASIM1, FARHATULLAH2, RAZIUDDIN2 AND ABDUL RAFI3
Abstract: Global climate change is consequence of accumulating greenhouse gases (Carbon) at lower atmosphere which might affects crops growth and yield. Maize is an important summer cereals, grown on considerable area in Pakistan every year. We, therefore, study the delay sowing response with changing climate on maize. Field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm, Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan in a randomized complete block design. Sowing was done from June 8 to July 24, 2010 with ten days intervals. Mazie (cv. Azam) was planted in rows at 0.75 m distance in NS orientations. Crop was raised under the uniform recommended cultural practices. Data regarding days to emergence, tasseling and maturity showed a consecutive decrease when sowing was delayed form June 08 onwards. However, the crop life cycle (i.e. vegetative and reproductive durations) initially remained uniform but expanded for late sowing dates (July). Delay sowing showed an increase in the leaf area index with an abrupt decline for the late sown crop. Nonetheless, plant stand at harvest remained static during the growth for all sowing dates. A stable to moderate reduction was noticed in ear length (cm) when sowings was delayed from Jun 08 onwards. Grain rows cob-1 did not influence by the delay sowing in the season. Moreover, delay sowing did not show any significant (P<0.05) change for the grain number. However, thousand grains weight was initially remained stable but declined (P<0.05) by delay in sowing. Biological yield, dry matter and grains yield (g m-2) revealed almost a similar decreasing trend when sowing was delayed. Dry matter to grain yield relationship was linear (r2 = 0.95) and revealed a mean loss of 1.65 g m2 when sowing delayed from June 08 to July 24 in the season. Radiation use efficiency (RUE), the growth function, was also declined by the delay in sowing. We inferred that losses in leaf area indices, ear length and grain weights were basis of the grain yield reduction by changing climate of the growing season which brought a significant disturbance in the vegetative and reproductive phases of the crop life cycle that resulted losses (P<0.05) in grain yield by the late sown crop in the season.
1Department of Agronomy, 2Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, 3Department of Plant Pathology Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan. *Corresponding author email: akmal@aup.edu.pk; Tel. +92-91-9218597; Fax 0092-91-9216520 |
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