Fertilizer Adoption Impact on Maize Yield Growth: Disparity among Major Maize Growing Administrative Regions of Ethiopia

Chemical control is the main method used to combat fall armyworm in maize crops. However, its indiscriminate use usually leads to a more complex scenario characterized by loss of its effectiveness due to the development of resistance of the insect pest, emergence of secondary pests, and reduction of the populations of natural enemies. For this reason, efforts to develop strategies for agroecological pest management such as Push–Pull are increasingly growing. In this context, the present study was carried out to evaluate field effectiveness of Push–Pull systems for S. frugiperda management in maize crops in Morelos, Mexico. In a randomized block experiment, the incidence and severity of S. frugiperda, the development and yield of maize were evaluated in nine Push–Pull systems and a maize monoculture. The Push–Pull systems presented incidence/severity values lower than those of the monoculture. Morphological development and maize yield in the latter were lower than those of most Push–Pull systems. Mombasa—D. ambrosioides, Mulato II—T. erecta, Mulato II—C. juncea, Tanzania—T. erecta and Tanzania—D. ambrosioides systems presented higher yields than those of monocultures.

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Optimizing Grain Yield and Water Use Efficiency Based on the Relationship between Leaf Area Index and Evapotranspiration

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11040313 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 313

Author(s):

Guoqiang Zhang ◽

Bo Ming ◽

Dongping Shen ◽

Ruizhi Xie ◽

Peng Hou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Grain Yield ◽

Water Use Efficiency ◽

Leaf Area Index ◽

Water Use ◽

Plant Density ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Area Index ◽

Irrigation Level ◽

Use Efficiency ◽

The Relationship

Achieving optimal balance between maize yield and water use efficiency is an important challenge for irrigation maize production in arid areas. In this study, we conducted an experiment in Xinjiang China in 2016 and 2017 to quantify the response of maize yield and water use to plant density and irrigation schedules. The treatments included four irrigation levels: 360 (W1), 480 (W2), 600 (W3), and 720 mm (W4), and five plant densities: 7.5 (D1), 9.0 (D2), 10.5 (D3), 12.0 (D4), and 13.5 plants m−2 (D5). The results showed that increasing the plant density and the irrigation level could both significantly increase the leaf area index (LAI). However, LAI expansion significantly increased evapotranspiration (ETa) under irrigation. The combination of irrigation level 600 mm (W3) and plant density 12.0 plants m−2 (D4) produced the highest maize yield (21.0–21.2 t ha−1), ETa (784.1–797.8 mm), and water use efficiency (WUE) (2.64–2.70 kg m−3), with an LAI of 8.5–8.7 at the silking stage. The relationship between LAI and grain yield and evapotranspiration were quantified, and, based on this, the relationship between water use and maize productivity was analyzed. Moreover, the optimal LAI was established to determine the reasonable irrigation level and coordinate the relationship between the increase in grain yield and the decrease in water use efficiency.

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Genetic gains in maize yield and related traits for high-yielding cultivars released during 1980s to 2010s in China

Field Crops Research ◽

10.1016/j.fcr.2021.108223 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 270 ◽

pp. 108223

Author(s):

Guangzhou Liu ◽

Haishun Yang ◽

Ruizhi Xie ◽

Yunshan Yang ◽

Wanmao Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Maize Yield ◽

Genetic Gains

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Optimizing Maize Yield, Nitrogen Efficacy and Grain Protein Content under Different N Forms and Rates

Journal of soil science and plant nutrition ◽

10.1007/s42729-021-00486-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Isaiah O. Ochieng’ ◽

Harun I. Gitari ◽

Benson Mochoge ◽

Esmaeil Rezaei-Chiyaneh ◽

Joseph P. Gweyi-Onyango

Keyword(s):

Protein Content ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Grain Protein Content ◽

Grain Protein

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Effects of straw returning on soil moisture and maize yield in semi-humid area

Cereal Research Communications ◽

10.1007/s42976-021-00194-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lihua Zhang ◽

Hongxiang Zhao ◽

Chen Xu ◽

Weiping Yan ◽

Ning Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Humid Area

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Reducing Topdressing N Fertilization with Variable Rates Does Not Reduce Maize Yield

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13148059 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 8059

Author(s):

Calogero Schillaci ◽

Tommaso Tadiello ◽

Marco Acutis ◽

Alessia Perego

Keyword(s):

Precision Agriculture ◽

Stem Elongation ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Application Rate ◽

N Fertilization ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Growth Monitoring ◽

Fixed Rate ◽

Positioning Systems ◽

Significant Difference

Proximal sensing represents a growing avenue for precision fertilization and crop growth monitoring. In the last decade, precision agriculture technology has become affordable in many countries; Global Positioning Systems for automatic guidance instruments and proximal sensors can be used to guide the distribution of nutrients such as nitrogen (N) fertilization using real-time applications. A two-year field experiment (2017–2018) was carried out to quantify maize yield in response to variable rate (VR) N distribution, which was determined with a proximal vigour sensor, as an alternative to a fixed rate (FR) in a cereal-livestock farm located in the Po valley (northern Italy). The amount of N distributed for the FR (140 kg N ha−1) was calculated according to the crop requirement and the regional regulation: ±30% of the FR rate was applied in the VR treatment according to the Vigour S-index calculated on-the-go from the CropSpec sensor. The two treatments of N fertilization did not result in a significant difference in yield in both years. The findings suggest that the application of VR is more economically profitable than the FR application rate, especially under the hypothesis of VR application at a farm scale. The outcome of the experiment suggests that VR is a viable and profitable technique that can be easily applied at the farm level by adopting proximal sensors to detect the actual crop N requirement prior to stem elongation. Besides the economic benefits, the VR approach can be regarded as a sustainable practice that meets the current European Common Agricultural Policy.

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