Effect of Sowing Date on Yield and Quality of Six Forage Maize Cultivars in Rasht Region

Hashempour Baltourk1, Fariba; Majidian, Majid; Esfahani, Masoud; Rabiei, Babak

doi:10.22059/ijfcs.2013.50335

Effect of Sowing Date on Yield and Quality of Six Forage Maize Cultivars in Rasht Region

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Fariba Hashempour Baltourk1 ¹

Majid Majidian ²

Masoud Esfahani ³

Babak Rabiei ³

¹ Graduate Student, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

³ Associate Professors, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

10.22059/ijfcs.2013.50335

Abstract

To investigate the effects of sowing date on yield and quality of six forage maize cultivars in Rasht region, a field study was conducted in 2010. The experimental design was a randomized complete block using a factorial arrangement with three replications. Treatments consisted of four levels of sowing date (22 May, 3, 15 and 25 June), and six maize cultivars (SC 260, DC 370, SC 500, SC 647, SC 700 and SC 704). Results showed that the sowing date had significant effects on forage yield and quality traits. Cultivars had also significant effects on forage yield, protein yield, water soluble carbohydrate percentage, and ash percentage. Results indicate that sowing date of June 15^th and cultivar SC 700 for traits including forage yield (dry 28220.6 kg ha^-1 and fresh weight 87017 kg ha^-1), dry matter digestibility (72.69%), ADF (11.98%), water soluble carbohydrate percentage (32.97%), and total ash (6.81%), were better than other cultivars and sowing dates.

Keywords

forage maize

forage quality

yield