Causes and control measures of albino seedlings in corn

Albino seedlings often appear during the seedling stage of corn, which refers to the phenomenon in which corn plants appear entirely white after emergence. This seriously affects the growth of corn and also brings serious losses to farmers. So how should corn albino seedlings be controlled? Follow along with the editor to learn more about it.

1. Forms of manifestation

There are mainly two forms of manifestation of corn albino seedlings in production. One is that the seedlings appear as white seedlings after emergence. This is a genetic phenomenon called lethal gene albino seedlings. Because they lack chlorophyll, they cannot live independently and soon die. The other starts from the 4-leaf stage of corn, when the leaf color at the base of the heart leaf becomes lighter. At the 5-6 leaf stage, the leaves show stripes alternating between pale yellow and pale green, but the leaf veins remain green, and purple stripes appear at the base. After 10-15 days, the purple gradually turns yellow-white, the leaf mesophyll becomes thin, and the plants appear as white seedlings. In severe cases, the entire field turns white, mainly due to zinc deficiency in the soil.

2. Occurrence pattern

Corn albino seedlings are mainly a phenomenon of genetic segregation, generally appearing in seed production fields and rarely occurring in production. If it also occurs in production, it is mostly due to seed problems. After the seedlings become albino, they cannot form chlorophyll and naturally cannot carry out photosynthesis, so they can only survive on seed nutrients. Therefore, they die after the seed nutrients are exhausted. Albino plants in non-seed-production fields are a deficiency symptom caused by zinc deficiency. White stripes mostly appear on the leaves, and in severe cases the entire plant turns white.

3. Control measures

The first type of albino seedling phenomenon is controlled by genetic inheritance, so it has little impact on the economic value of corn, and it is only necessary to pay attention during seed selection. The second type of seedling albinism caused by zinc deficiency requires prevention of soil zinc deficiency. You can mix 1 kg of zinc sulfate with 10-15 kg of fine soil evenly and scatter it beside the seeds when sowing, or use zinc sulfate as seed fertilizer. For corn that has already shown albino seedlings, you can use 0.2-0.3 kg of zinc sulfate per mu mixed with 100 kg of water for spraying, spraying once every 7 days for 2-3 consecutive times. The effect is relatively good.

The above is an introduction to the causes of corn albino seedlings and control measures. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.