Increasing Plant Population for Better Rue and Higher Yield of Corn.

Since it is the plant that intercepts light and produces grain, a steady increase in seeding rate over the last 25 years (increase of approximately 700 seeds per ha per year) has played a large role in increasing average US corn yields, and we believe that even higher plant populations will be needed to double yield over the next 25 years.  The obvious caveat is that high plant populations must be managed to minimize plant competition, and our laboratory has examined: row configuration, fertility level, fertilizer placement, hybrid selection, and the use of fungicides and/or growth regulators to minimize stress as potential ways to manage higher plant populations.  Collectively our work shows that no single factor can effectively manage more plants for higher yield, but rather it is the combination of factors acting together that will give growers the greatest opportunity to increase yield by managing a higher population of plants.

ed population contributed to greater RUE and subsequent yield.