There's a Trick to Boosting Corn Yields: Subsoiling and Late Harvest Are Key

Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhao Jinliang, a farmer from Zhaojiawa Village in Dingzhou City, Hebei Province, came to his field again. Pulling the reporter to the edge of the field, he said with some pride: "The weather has been favorable this year. Look at my corn - 1,300 jin per mu is no problem."

The reporter walked into the field to take a closer look. Indeed, his 6 mu of corn had a suitable density and thick stalks, and many plants bore two ears. The reporter carefully peeled open one ear and saw that the kernels were very plump and quite appealing. No wonder that even though there was little work left to do in the field in the later stage, Zhao Jinliang still came to stroll around the field every few days.

Village committee director Zhao Guojun, standing nearby, shook one of the corn plants and told the reporter: "These plots have all been subsoiled, so the root systems are well developed and the stalks are sturdy. You can feel the strength just by shaking them."

A relevant person in charge from the Dingzhou City Agriculture Bureau introduced that Dingzhou is a demonstration county for the ministry-province jointly built land subsoiling project designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Hebei Province. This year, the subsoiling area reached 400,000 mu, involving more than 100,000 farming households. Mechanical subsoiling reaches a soil depth of more than 25 cm. After subsoiling, crop root systems are much thicker and stronger, and the yield increase effect is obvious.

"To maximize per-unit yield, we must change the traditional habit of rushing to harvest and promote and popularize late corn harvest technology. This year's corn harvest period should be from late September to the National Day holiday," said Wu Yongshan, director of the Dingzhou City Agricultural Technology Station. He explained in detail to the reporter: "In the past, we often harvested as soon as the corn husks turned yellow, but in fact it was not fully mature. Harvesting at that time was only equivalent to 80%-85% of the yield. Now is exactly the period of grain filling and kernel growth, with the 1,000-kernel weight increasing by 1-2 grams per day. Harvesting at the appropriate later time can increase income by more than 100 jin per mu on average."