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Detailed Explanation of Corn Planting Methods and Key Technical Points

Growing Techniques By Emily Carter 0 views
Food Crops
Corn (Latin scientific name: Zea mays L.) is an annual herbaceous plant of the genus Zea in the grass family (Poaceae). Other names: maize, bangzi, baogu, baomi, baosu, yujiao, baomi, zhenzhumi, baolu, dalu su; in Liaoning in the northeast it is called zhenzhuli, in the Chaozhou dialect yimi ren, in Cantonese sumi, and in Southern Min fanmai. Corn is an annual monoecious plant with cross-pollination between male and female flowers; the plant is tall and the stalk is strong. It is an important food crop and feed crop, and it is also the crop with the highest total production in the world, with its planting area and total output second only to rice and wheat. Corn has long been praised as a longevity food; it is rich in protein, fat, vitamins, trace elements, cellulose, and more, and has great potential for developing highly nutritious foods with high biological function.

Key Technical Points

1. Leave high stubble to rot naturally and return to the field

When harvesting corn stalks, leave high stubble (about 40cm) to rot naturally and return to the field (the returned stalks account for more than 30% of the total stalk amount), and keep the root stubble undisturbed; by the following year, after wind, sun, rain, and freeze-thaw, it naturally rots and returns to the field, which has the effect of increasing soil organic matter, building soil fertility, and reducing soil wind erosion.

2. Wide-row rotary tillage soil preparation in autumn

After leaving high stubble, use a strip rotary tiller to carry out rotary tillage and soil preparation in wide rows, and level the seedbed to meet sowing standards. In spring, do not prepare the soil and sow directly, which helps preserve soil moisture and ensure seedling establishment.

3. Precision sowing

Precision sowing refers to fine soil preparation and precision sowing. Narrow-row precision sowing refers to carrying out precision sowing in the previous year's wide rows on the basis of fine soil preparation in autumn, forming new narrow-row seedling bands (40cm), which can save seed quantity and reduce costs.

4. Wide-band deep loosening in the stubble band

Before corn jointing (generally mid-June), carry out wide-band deep loosening in the stubble band (90cm wide rows), with a loosening width of 30-40cm and a depth of 30-40cm. At this time the rainy season has already begun or is beginning, so deep loosening at this time can accept and store more precipitation and form a soil reservoir. This allows summer rain to be used in autumn and the following spring, improving the use efficiency of natural precipitation.

Key Technical Points for Corn Planting

1. Field selection and soil preparation

Choose plots with deep plow layers, good water and fertilizer retention, and good drainage conditions, with medium to upper fertility; soils such as black soil, chernozem, light chernozem, alluvial soil, and thick meadow soil are preferable. After the autumn harvest, use a 1GQN-320T3 strip rotary tiller to rotary-till the wide rows to reach a sowing-ready state. In the second year in spring, carry out precision sowing in the rotary-tilled wide rows to form new narrow-row seedling bands, and after the autumn harvest rotary-till the new wide rows again.

2. Variety selection and seed treatment

According to local natural conditions, select and use excellent varieties that have passed national and provincial approval and are high-quality, high-yield, and strongly stress-resistant according to local conditions. For plots with good water and fertilizer conditions, mainly use density-tolerant and semi-density-tolerant varieties. Before sowing, carry out seed treatments such as germination testing, sunning the seeds, and seed coating.

3. Sowing

When the soil temperature at 0-10cm stabilizes above 8°C, use a 2BJ series precision seeder or 2BD-2 precision seeder to carry out precision sowing in the wide rows rotary-tilled the previous year, with a sowing depth of 3-4cm, ensuring consistent sowing depth and uniform soil covering. After sowing, use a 1YM roller to press the soil; if a no-till seeder is used for sowing, pressing is not necessary. The sowing density should be appropriately increased compared with conventional tillage, and the general seedling retention density is 60,000-65,000 plants/hm2.

4. Fertilization

For general farmland, apply high-quality farmyard manure at 25 m3/hm2-30 m3/hm2, N: 220 kg/hm2-260 kg/hm2, P2O5: 80 kg/hm2-120 kg/hm2, K2O: 60 kg/hm2-100 kg/hm2. One quarter of the N fertilizer and all of the P fertilizer and all of the K fertilizer are applied as a one-time base fertilizer, and three quarters of the nitrogen fertilizer are applied as a topdressing in the wide rows before corn jointing using a strip intertillage deep-loosening topdressing machine.

5. Deep loosening

Before corn jointing (generally mid-June), use a strip intertillage deep-loosening topdressing machine to carry out deep loosening in the wide rows combined with topdressing, with a loosening width of 30 cm-40 cm and a depth of 30 cm-40 cm; topdressing is carried out at the same time as deep loosening.

6. Field management

(1) Chemical herbicide weeding

Mix atrazine-type suspension concentrate and acetochlor emulsifiable concentrate (or metolachlor) with water, and spray the soil after corn sowing but before emergence when the soil is relatively moist.

(2) Thinning and final singling of seedlings

Thin seedlings at the 3-leaf stage and finalize the stand at the 4-leaf to 5-leaf stage.

(3) Prevention and control of diseases, insect pests, and rodents

The main diseases and insect pests occurring during the corn growing period should be controlled in a targeted manner; for rodent damage, according to the actual situation in the field, use appropriate control methods such as poison bait trapping.

(4) Harvesting and drying

Harvest when the corn kernels reach physiological maturity. After harvesting, peel the husks promptly. Drying methods include placing on racks or freely piling for drying and dehydration (moisture content ≤14%).


Nutritional Value of Corn
The nutritional composition of corn is relatively comprehensive. It generally contains protein 8.5%, fat 4.3%, carbohydrates 73.2%, calcium 0.022%, phosphorus .21%, iron 0.0016%, and also contains carotene, vitamin B1, B2 and nicotinic acid, as well as sitosterol, lecithin , vitamin E, lysine, and more. The latest research indicates that corn contains an anti-cancer factor, glutathione. Nutritionists at home and abroad have given corn high praise, believing that: the glutathione contained in corn has an anti-cancer effect, and it can combine with a variety of carcinogens in the human body, causing these substances to lose their carcinogenicity; the cellulose contained in corn is a carbohydrate that cannot be absorbed by the human body, and it can reduce the concentration of carcinogens in the human intestinal tract and reduce the accumulation of toxin-secreting putrefactive matter in the intestinal tract, thereby reducing the incidence of colon cancer and rectal cancer; the lignin contained in corn can increase the activity of "macrophages" in the human body by 2-3 times, thereby inhibiting the occurrence of cancer; corn also contains a large amount of minerals, and magnesium in food has a clear cancer-preventive effect. Japanese geneticists have confirmed that corn bran can reduce the cancer-causing effect of the carcinogen dinitropyrene and the heterocyclic amines formed when grilling fish and meat by 92%.




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