Relationship of plant biomass and grainfillingwith grain yield of maize cultivars

ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the field performance of four maize cultivars(DC-370, SC-500, OSSK-602 and SC-604), an experiment (using RCB design) with three replications was conducted in 2009 at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. The highest grains per plant and grain yield were obtained by SC-604, followed by SC-500, OSSK-602 and DC-370, respectively.Grains per plant negatively correlated with maximum grain weight, but positively related with biological and grain yields per unit area. Maximum grain weight of maize cultivars mainly influenced by grain filling rate rather than by grain filling duration. Correlation of biological yield with grain yield was significantly positive, but with harvest index was significantly negative. It was concluded that high yielding cultivars of maize can only be achieved by improving plant biomass.