Maize Photoperiod Control: Part II.

During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, the staff of the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize Project and the Maize Curatorial Project staff of the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station experimented with various types of structures to ensure that field plantings of tropical maize germplasm were exposed to an 8/16 hour day/night regiment.  Earlier prototypes successfully induced a wide range of tropical maize germplasm to flower at times similar to elite, temperate maize. A cost-effective means was needed to increase the size of the structure to cover more area and more plants, and to mechanize the daily application and removal of the shading material, which is bulky.  Personnel modified the construction used in previous years and applied principles similar to  those used for a grain trailer roll tarp cover for the 2009 shade house.  This   resulted in a covered area of 35’ x 102’, or 0.02 ha, which accommodates 96 - 12.5’ long rows.  A hand crank or an electric drill will be used in combination with a gear box to unroll the shade fabric to expose the plants to light.  Results indicating the effectiveness of the 2009 design and experimentation will be presented.