Plant Factors Related to Ear Size in Maize Grown at Different Densities.

The creation and maintenance of growth and developmental homogeneity among plants within a maize stand may contribute to higher average per-plant grain yield. We measured leaf orientation, husk length at silking, ear leaf orientation, ear diameter, stem diameter (at V9 and R2), ear height and ear leaf area to see if these might correlate with final kernel number and grain weight per ear. Measurements were taken on five hybrids grown at five plant densities. Plants with V1 leaves oriented in the direction of the row reoriented upper leaves to an angle more perpendicular to the row, with the greatest amount of reorientation at the middle density (8.4 plants m^-2) and some differences among hybrids.