title: Morphological Characteristics of Maize Canopy Development as Affected by Increased Plant Density.
abstract: Improving crop productivity through higher plant density requires a detailed understanding of organ development in response to increased interplant competition. The objective of this paper is thus to investigate the characteristics of organ development under increased interplant competition. A field experiment was conducted to investigate organ development across 4 maize plant densities i.e. 2, 6, 12 and 20 plants m-2 (referred to PD2, PD6, PD12 and PD20 respectively). In response to increased interplant competition, lengths of both laminae and sheaths increased in lower phytomers, but decreased in upper phytomers. Sheath extension appeared to be less sensitive to increased interplant competition than lamina extension. Extension of laminae and internodes responded to increased plant density as soon as onset of mild interplant competition, but did not respond any further to severe competition. Both lamina width and internode diameter were reduced due to a smaller growth rate in response to increased plant density. Overall, this study identified that organ expansion rate can be taken as the key morphological factor to determine the degree of interplant competition.
authors.affiliation: Anhui Agricultural University, School of Agronomy, Hefei, Anhui Province, 230036, China.
authors.forename: Youhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: China Agricultural University, College of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China.
authors.forename: Yukui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rui
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Gatton, Qld, 4343, Australia.
authors.forename: Guta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bedane
authors.affiliation: Anhui Agricultural University, School of Agronomy, Hefei, Anhui Province, 230036, China.|Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jincai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000069599:Crop Production / Q000379:methods; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development; D003313:Zea mays / Q000254:growth & development*