Does Short Corn Cause us to Change how we Manage Water? – Leaf Area Index

Does Short Corn Cause us to Change how we Manage Water? – Leaf Area Index

Does Short Corn Cause us to Change how we Manage Water? – Leaf Area Index

Internode length (plant height) is basically a response to temperature, provided planting date and population are held constant. So, cooler soil temps at emergence and cooler wetter conditions at V-5 when maximum cell elongation is taking place, will result in less internode length and shorter corn. If you count you will see the same number of leaves, just shorter plants. Because of this your water use stays pretty much the same. Remember once you hit 2.7 Leaf Area Index the daily water use is totally dependent on atmospheric demand. The LEA is way over 2.7 either way and in fact it is no different than if you had tall corn. So the same number of stomata exist, and water use between tall and short isn’t much different. Luckily this has very little affect on yield assuming you have good canopy cover. We wouldn’t expect drastic changes in productivity.

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