Investigation the effect of plant density on forage yield of new corn hybrids

To evaluate the impact of plant density on the yield of new forage corn hybrids, an experiment was conducted in 2011 in the Research Farm owned by Khorasgan Azad University located in northest of Isfahan, designed as a factorial plan of random blocks with 3 replications. Experimental factors included plant density and corn hybrids. Density levels included 7, 8, and 10 plants/m2 and the hybrids consisted of 6 levels including NS540, NS640, ZP684, ZP677, ZP758, and SC704. Among the investigated hybrids, most late-ripping maize, most early-ripping maize was SC704 and ZP758, respectively. Therefore, SC704 has the most growth opportunity and is able to have higher yield. Base on our results, between different levels of plant density per hectare, density of 70000 plants per hectare had the highest grain yield. Among the investigated hybrids on quality performance of the hybrids studied in this research, a new hybrid ZP684 has highest ratio of wet leaf weight on wet stem weight. Ratio of wet leaf weight on wet stem weight was not affected by plant density. Eventually, regarding the achieved results of the present study in terms of qualitative and quantitative yield, SC704 with 70000 plant/ ha densities is the recommended hybrid for Isfahan, regarding the climate and agricultural machinery and facility.