Maize varieties in different spacings in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

This research was carried out to evaluate the performance of maize varieties in different spacings. The study was developed in the experimental area of the Department of Plant and Animal Science, of Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil, during the growing season 2008/2009. The experiment was carried out in a randomized blocks design, in a factorial scheme 3 x 4 with three varieties (AL Bandeirante, BR 106 and Arapuim), 4 spacings (0.40, 0.60, 0.80 and 1.0 m) between rows and three replications, with a population of 50.000 plants ha^-1. The following agronomic characteristics were evaluated: flowering days, plants number, ears number, plant height, ear height, stalk diameter, ear length, ear diameter, ear rate and productivity. It was observed that varieties promoted significant results on most of the corn agronomic characteristics. The varieties Arapuim, which was more prolific, and AL Bandeirante produced more ear than BR 106. The spacing reduction increased the ears number.