DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUN PLANT DENSITY OF CORN CULTIVATIONS, P-9490, CB-HS-8GM2 AND X-1358K. AZUERO, PANAMA, 1998.

Abstract

There were established three con trails located in three corn producing areas of the Azuero region. The objective of the study was to evaluate the response of three commercial corn cultivations to the plant densities. Corn cultivations were: new national hybrid P-9490 (IDIAP) and two imported hybrids CB-HS-8GM2 (Cristiani Burkard) and X-1358K (Pioneer). The experimental design used was completely randomized block design with three replications in a split-plot arrangement. Plant densities evaluated were 2.96, 6.06 and 8.88 plants/m². High density reduced mainly the ear sizes of the three ciltivations. Another factor nthat was afected by high densities was the number of plants without ears. Calculated plant densities related to corn grain yield varied in the three locations. The highest yields were found in Santo Domimgo, while the lowest yields were found in Paraiso of Las Tablas. The highest yields of P-9490 were found between 5.47 and 9.54 plants/m², while for CB-HS-8GM2 was between 6.84 and 8.84 plants/m². The highest yields for hybrid X-1358K was found between 8.28 and 9.22 plants/m². Combined analysis of the three locations indicated that optimun population of the three hybrids was 7.95, 6.46 and 8.72 plants/m² for CB-HS-8GM2, P-9490 and X-1358K hybrids, respectively (R²= 0.88, 0.78 and 0.87 for each regression).