Abstract

                                A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2012 at the Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur to study the phenology and productivity of maize cultivars under different sowing environments. The crop sown on June 16 required significantly higher number of days and accumulated GDD to attain various phenophases compared to July 1 and July 16 sown crops. Higher day temperature coupled with low humidity caused reduction in grain yield under July 16 sown crop. Soil moisture content at different depths was significantly lower at 75 DAS under July 16 sown crop as compared to June 16 and July 1 sown crop. The row spacing was not able to bring any significant difference in growing degree days. Among the cultivars, HQPM-1 required significantly more number of days and GDD for attaining reproductive and maturity as compared to PEHM-2 and Pratap-1. A significant negative correlation between grain yield and maximum temperature during reproductive phase was recorded.

Key words : Phenology, Weather, Row spacing, Cultivars, Maize, GDD and Soil moisture