Evaluation of Interrelationship of Growth Indices and Grain Yield of Five Maize Hybrids under Two Irrigation Regimes in Isfahan

Defining interrelationship of growth analysis factors and yield of crop plants is important in the field crop production practices. This research was aimed at studying growth factors and grain yield of five maize hybrids, consisting of S.C.704, S.C.700, S.C.647, S.C.604, and S.C.301, using two 4-replicate RCBD experiments in Isfahan, in Summer 2004. While one experiment was irrigated normally, the other one was conducted under delayed irrigation conditions. Maize plants were seeded at 95000 plants/ha in 8-row plots, with rows spaced 0.70m apart and 0.15m distance between plants on each row. Delayed irrigation led to a significant decrease in LAImax, LAD, LADLinear and LADs-m, but a significant increase in days to silking. While CGRLinear significantly correlated with LAImax, LAD, LADLinear and LADs-m, a significant correlation was observed between total biomass and grain yield. CGRLinear, LAImax, and LADs-m significantly correlated with total biomass, and grain yield significantly correlated with yield components, harvest index, CGRLinear and LAImax. In conclusion, an increase in LAImax resulted in a higher CGRLinear and in turn a greater total biomass. But, considering no significant correlation between total biomass and harvest index, it appears that with the genotypes and under conditions of the present study, allocation of dry matter to grain production did not correlate with the leaf area attributes of corn.