Effects of the Low Tunnel and Sowing Dates on the Yield, Plant Growth and Some Agronomic Characteristics of Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. saccharata)

Authors: Nebahat SARI, Kazım ABAK

Abstract: The effects of the low tunnel on the yield, the earliness, plant growth and the agronomic characteristics of the sweet corn that was sown at three different sowing times within 10 days intervals since February 12th were studied. The first emergence, the full emergence and the silking time of plants from sowing time were determined during two years. Also, some other characters such as the total yield, the early yield, the ear weight with or without husk, the ear length, the ear diameter, the number of kernels per ear, the weight of kernels and TSSC (%) were investigated. The first emergence, the full emergence, and the male flowering dates were verified in sowing periods respectively. The low tunnel application gained approximetly 14, 8 and 7 days earliness in respect to the full emergence at the first, the second and the third sowing period respectively. Both sowing periods and the low tunnel application affected the earliness importantly, but the effect of the low tunnel was important than that of sowing dates. Different sowing dates didnÕt affect the total yield, however the tunnel aplication increased the early yield (20 %). The effect of the low tunnel on the yield was the result of the increase of the ear weight. Low tunnel application changed the crop quality significantly, but different sowing dates didnÕt change the quality of crop significantly.

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