What are the causes of poor kernel set in corn?
Corn is a food crop that everyone loves very much. It is crisp, sweet and fragrant, and with one bite you get a mouthful of kernels, with the lingering aroma of corn surrounding your mouth. A corn cob is supposed to be full of kernels, but during the corn growing process, poor kernel set on the cob is often found at harvest time due to the surrounding growing environment, management and other aspects. So why does this happen? Let's take a look below!
1. Unsuitable temperature and humidity
During its growth, corn has relatively strict requirements for temperature and humidity. When corn reaches the flowering stage, the temperature needs to be kept at around 25 degrees, and the relative humidity in the air must not be lower than 70%. Before the tassel emerges, there must be no water shortage; a water shortage will cause poor development of the florets on the ear and the silks of the female flowers to emerge too late. And a water shortage after tasseling will also do the same. This leads to poor pollination between the male and female flowers and inconsistent flowering periods. Moreover, when the temperature is too high and the humidity drops during pollination, it affects the vitality of the pollen, making normal pollination impossible and causing poor kernel set.
2. Weather reasons
From the large trumpet stage to the tasseling stage, this is the stage when corn needs nutrients the most, and it is also the period of heaviest fertilizer use. If continuous drought weather is encountered at this stage, it will affect the silking of the male and female flowers, causing pollen to be shed early, and because the vitality of the pollen is too weak, the silks cannot withstand the high-temperature environment and wither, causing poor pollination. Moreover, if rainy weather is encountered during the pollination stage, it will also cause poor kernel set, because when the pollen encounters water while spreading, the pollen absorbs water, swells and finally bursts. This leads to pollination failure and ultimately causes poor kernel set.
3. Insufficient soil fertility
Thin and poor soil is an important cause of poor kernel set and even empty stalks in corn. Under the same conditions, corn with sufficient fertility sets kernels far better than corn with poor fertility. Experimental investigation results show that the higher the fertility, the better the kernel set and the lower the density. Also, a single fertilizer gives a higher rate of empty ears and grains than a compound fertilizer, and all trace elements in the soil are indispensable. The lack of any one element will increase the empty-ear rate of corn and reduce the kernel set rate.
4. Poor nutrition during cultivation
If nutrition is insufficient when the female flowers of corn differentiate, it will reduce the photosynthesis of corn, decrease the accumulation of organic matter in corn, and lead to poor development of the female flowers. This affects the kernel set rate. Moreover, if there are too many nutrients, excess nutrition in the plant will cause the corn stalks to grow excessively, affecting the normal development of the flowers and leading to poor kernel set. The planting density of corn should also not be too high, because excessive density will cause the leaves to shade each other, resulting in extremely poor air permeability between the corn plants, reducing photosynthesis and lowering the kernel set rate.
In fact, poor kernel set means that the corn cob is not completely filled with kernels and cannot form commercial value. This seriously affects the economic interests of growers, so as long as the points I mentioned above are well controlled, the empty-ear rate and poor kernel set rate of corn can be greatly reduced. If you want to learn more about growing techniques, please continue to follow Qinnong Network!