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Growth Stages Of Corn

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Agromax Micronutrients Pvt. Ltd.

Sep 11, 2018·4 min read

Corn or Maize is one of the most versatile crops in the world. Popularly known as “queen of cereals”, maize has the highest genetic yield potential among the cereals, globally. In addition to being a staple food for human beings as well as quality feed for animals, maize serves as a basic raw material to thousands of industrial products that includes starch, oil, protein, alcoholic beverages, food sweeteners, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, film, textile, gum, package and paper industries etc.

As with every crop, corn has certain stages of growth leading to its eventual maturity. In corn, the growth stages are classified into two types:

1. Vegetative

2. Reproductive

Let’s take a look at these stages and what they represent in the growth process of corn.

Vegetative growth stage:

The vegetative growth stage is the appearance of leaves on the corn crop. The vegetative or (V) stages are numerically designated as V1, V2, V3, etc. to V (n) where (n) represents the number of leaves with visible collars. The first and last stages are known as VE (emergence) and VT (tasseling).

· Emergence (VE) stage: Most of the development in this stage is under the surface of the soil and hence may not be visible. This is the stage when the plant’s root system is formed. The emergence stage is confirmed when the first leaf or the ‘coleoptile’ leaf with collar becomes visible.

· The nth leaf stage (V (n)): The leaf stage consists of several stages at the time of emergence of the leaves of the plant. Each stage has its own significance and this stage is complete when the plant has (n) number of leaves with their collars visible.

· Tasseling stage (VT): This stage takes place when the plant reaches its full height and begins to shed its pollen. At this point the tassels of the plant are completely visible. Tassels emerge fully about 2 to 3 days prior to the silking stage. Hail damage is most significant at tasseling and can result in 100% yield loss if the tassel is lost.

Reproductive growth stage:

The reproductive growth stage of the corn plant begins once the vegetative growth stage comes to an end. The six reproductive stages are simply designated numerically as R1, R2, R3 and so on.

· Silking (R1): About 2 to 3 days after the tasseling stage, the silking stage begins. Thready strands called silks start to emerge and become visible. This is one of the most critical stages in the development of the corn crop. The silks capture fallen pollen grains which then start to grow down the silks, later becoming the beginnings of the corn kernels.

· Blistering (R2): This stage is observed about 10 -15 days after the silking stage. The pollen grains which had been growing down the silks now form small blister-like kernels, white in colour and containing a clear, watery fluid. At this stage, the silks will start becoming dryer and brown in colour. Starch begins to accumulate in the kernels.

· Milk (R3): At this stage of the reproductive growth process, the corn kernels begin to turn yellow in colour with a milky fluid on the inside. The milk stage starts approximately 20 days after the silking stage.

· Dough (R4): The milky inner fluid of the kernels starts to thicken and become pastier in consistency. At this stage, the kernels will have accumulated approximately 50% of their dry weight. It occurs about 26 days after the silking stage.

· Dent (R5): The dent stage occurs about 36 days after the silking stage. The kernels will now begin to dry up and take on a dented appearance.

· Physiological maturity (R6): This is the final stage in the corn growth process, which occurs approximately 55 days after the silking stage. At this stage, all the kernels have achieved their full dry weight, the husks and leaves start to brown and the black layer stage appears with the progression of the starch to the base of the kernel.

The corn plant requires adequate care and nutrition at all stages of its growth, particularly during the vegetative stages, as any damage during these stages can hinder the growth of the entire crop.

Good care, proper irrigation as well as the supplication of adequate nutritive supplements to the soil at appropriate times is essential to ensure the growth of a healthy and bountiful harvest of the corn crop. Agromax has a wide range of micronutrients product specially formulated to suit the needs of the maize crop. Sakas, Sampanna, Humax Granular, Fast Act Zinc 12%, Xcel Power are some of the products specially developed by Agromax to enhance and improve the quality and yield of the maize crop, containing all the essential micronutrients and supplements required by the maize crop for optimum growth.

First of all, it is necessary to identify the seeds of what plants. Taking wheat as an example, marker sampling can be carried out from the beginning of wheat flowering.  0,3,6,9,12 day post anthesis until the seeds are ripe. Sample every day if necessary.  Phenotypic changes in seeds can be observed and described using a type microscope.  Biochemical parameters depend on the purpose of your study. Sugars, amino acids, and proteins are spatio-temporal heterogeneous during seed development. Transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics are also extensively studied during seed development.  If you want to further observe the microstructure, paraffin embedding and freezing section technology can be satisfied.

Physiological maturity occurs when seeds reach maximum dry weight, germination and vigor. Physiological maturity is attained when fruit have the capacity to ripen after harvest. Horticultural maturity means fruit have developed marketable appearance and edibility. Fruit at physiological maturity typically have a long storage life but May not be horticultural mature. The most frequent method is drying seeds in an oven immediately after harvest followed by weighing the dried seeds for a moisture content determination. Probably the most accurate method of determining physiological maturity is the measurement of 14C assimilate uptake by the developing seed. The process of seed germination includes the following five changes or steps: imbibition, respiration, effect of light on seed germination, mobilization of reserves during seed germination, and role of growth regulators and development of the embryo axis into a seedling. The process of seed germination includes the following five changes or steps: imbibition, respiration, effect of light on seed germination, mobilization of reserves during seed germination, and role of growth regulators and development of the embryo axis into a seedling. The seed reaches its maximum dry weight at physiological maturity and seeds should be harvested at this time to ensure their quality in terms of germinability and vigour. Maturity is the harvest index most widely used in fruits. However, physiological maturity needs to be distinguished from commercial maturity. The former is reached when development is over. It may or may not be followed by the ripening process to achieve the commercial maturity required by the market.