Assessment of GDD, PTI and HUE of Maize crop sown under different growing environment in Ayodhya (U.P.)

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.), a member of the poaceae family, After Rice and Wheat is one of the world's thrid most significant cereal crops. It is one of the main food crops in the globe, providing sustenance for both people and livestock (Tahir et al., 2008) [21] . Because of its unique qualities, such as its carbon pathway (C 4 ), superior transpiration efficiency, high versatility utilization, etc., maize is referred to as the "Queen of Cereals" (Ramasamy et al., 2017) [16] . As a result, it serves as both a significant source of carbohydrates for human consumption and as animal feed (Undie et al., 2012) [24] . According to (Kumar et al., 2020) [10] maize seeds have 10% protein, 4% oil, and 2-3% crude fiber. A variety of products made from maize, including starch, glucose, dextrose, sorbitol, dextrin, high fructose corn syrup, malto dextrin, germ oil, germ meal, fiber, and gluten products, are made using maize as a raw material. Compared to other cereal crops, maize has a far higher output potential and greater adaptation to a variety of agroclimatic situation. Worldwide, it is cultivated on nearly 150 Mha in about 160 countries, representing diverse soil, climate, biodiversity, and management practices and contributes 36% (782 million tonnes) of global grain production (Singh et al., 2017) [20] . USA is the major producer of maize (31.08%), followed by China (23.42%), Brazil (9.27%), European Union (5.89%), Argentina (4.49%), Ukraine (3.22%), India (2.8%) and others (16.45%) (Anonymous 2022) [3] . In our country maize is farmed throughout India from the dry region of Chitradurga, Karnataka, to the warm, humid plateau of Chindwara, (M.P.). In India, the area of maize during 2020-21 the area of maize was 9.86 million hectares with a production of 31.51 million tons and productivity was 3195 kg/ha (Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2022) [5] . The predominant maize growing states that contributes more than 80% of the total maize production are Andhra Pradesh (20.9%), Karnataka (16.5%), Rajasthan (9.9%), Maharashtra (9.1%), Bihar (8.9%), Uttar Pradesh (6.1%), Madhya Pradesh (5.7%), Himachal Pradesh (4.4%) (Murdia et al., 2016) [13] .

Apart from these states maize is also grown in Jammu and Kashmir and North-Eastern states. The heat unit or growing degree day (GDD) concept assumes that there is direct and linear relationship between growth of plants and temperature. The scientific way of assessing and qualifying the effect of temperature and photoperiod on plant growth, development and yield by applying GDD theory which advocates that the plants have a definite temperature requirement to pass through a certain growth portion or phenophase. (Kiniry et al., 1983) [9] and yield (Shukla and Vasuniya, 1998) [19] . Plants have a definite temperature requirement before they attain certain phenological growth stages and to forecast the phenology and crop production attributes. (Jones et al. 2003) [8] . Though maize is a day neutral plant, flowering and maturity of genotypes are dependent on available temperature and sunshine hours. (Rao et al. 2000) [17] . Hence the knowledge on the calculation of the heat units i.e., Growing degree days (GDD), Photothermal index (PTI) and heat use efficiency (HUE) are the basic principles to understand the phenology and follow proper planting dates for different genotypes over temporal and spatial separations. Tao et al., (2003) [22] described that changes in temporal and spatial pattern of precipitation in the growing season may directly impact the crop water cycle and could induce water stress during crop development. The crop growth that reduces the time between planting and grain development limiting the yield (Lobell and Field, 2007) [11] . High temperature at flowering (tasseling and silking) inhibited the pollination and grain development. Warmer environmental condition accelerates the pollen shedding and delay in silking (Basra, 2009, Amin et al., 2017) [4,2] . Heat stress at silking and tasseling reduced the grain yield by 7% for every day after exposure to stress (Lobell et al., 2011) [12] .

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

Photo Thermal Index requirement of kharif maize varieties at different phenophases as affected by different dates of sowing/weather variability have been presented in Table 1. The maximum Photo Thermal Index (PTI) requirement from sowing to maturity was recorded by Shwetha cultivars i.e. 19.0 & 18.3 o C days/day at 1 st July (36 °C) dates of sowing, while minimum Photo Thermal Index from sowing to maturity is 18.5 & 16.4 °C days/day was observed under 21 st July (34.5 °C) dates of sowing during the experimental year 2021 and 2022 respectively, followed by Tarun and significantly superior over Type-41 variety under same crop growing environment. Heat use efficiency: Data pertaining to requirement of Kharif maize at different phenophases as affected by dates of sowing/weather variability have been presented in Table 3 The maximum heat use efficiency requirement from sowing to maturity was recorded with (0.65 and 0.68 g/m2/ 0 Cdays) at 1 st July (36 °C) dates of sowing while minimum heat use efficiency from sowing to maturity (0.60 and 0.63 g/m2/ 0 Cdays) was observed under 21 st July (34.5 °C) dates of sowing while among the varieties Shweta obtained higher Heat use efficiency in compared with Tarun and Type-41variety during the experimental year 2021 & 2022.

Relationship between Accumulated Heat Unit (GDD) and Dry Matter Accumulation of kharif maize sown at 1 st July Date of Sowing during 2021 and 2022

Relationship between accumulated heat unit (GDD) and dry matter accumulation of kharif maize has been depicted in Fig. 1 and

Conclusion

The heat assessment parameters like Photo thermal index, Accumulated Heat unit (GDD) requirement at different phenophases and Heat use efficiency of the crop were highest in crop growing environment on the 1 st July (D 1 ) followed by July 11 th ) (D 2 ). Lowest values of all were recorded on 21st July (D 3 ). Higher accumulated heat unit of 804.75, 1327.5 and 1525.4 °Cdays during knee high stage, milking and dough stage, respectively were recorded in the timely sown (1st July) crop during experimental year 2021 as compared to subsequent delayed sowing for achieving higher dry matter production. The decrease in accumulated heat unit was recorded with delay in sowing. The results also revealed that the Shweta recorded higher yield as compared to other varieties. Shweta experienced achieved minimum temperature 26.5 °C, 22 °C and 20 °C during tasseling, milking and dough stages, respectively which optimum for achieving higher yield of maize. Maximum temperature of 36 °C, 28.5 °C and 27 °C during emergence, tasseling and dough stage, respectively were favoured to get higher yield and yield attributing characters of maize. Among the varieties 28.5 °C, 35 °C and 27 °C during tasseling, Silking and dough stages of variety Shweta were recorded optimum, maximum, and minimum temperature for achieving higher yield as compared to other varieties.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThis research work was Ph.D. work under the supervision of A.K. Singh, ANDUA & T, Kumarganj, Ayodhya. Declaration of Interests:The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in authorship and research work.Data Availability: Data are available on request basis only.

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