Grain Yield and Yield Components at Maize under Different Preceding Crops and Nitrogen Fertilization Conditions

The yield components and the grain yield are influenced by several factors, either they are environmental or technological. Among the environmental factors there is counting as one of the most important the water supply, while among the technological factors there are counting the preceding crop and fertilization strategy. In this respect, the aim of this paper is to present the results regarding the yield components and the grain yields obtained at two maize hybrids studied under the drought specific conditions of 2015 in South Romanian and under different preceding crops and fertilization conditions. In this respect, a field experiment was performed in 2015 on a reddish preluvosoil in South Romania under rainfed conditions. Two maize hybrids were studied under three preceding crops (triticale, sorghum and maize) and three fertilization conditions (N40+0P40, N40+40P40, N40+80P40). In the fully ripe stage of the maize plants, the cobs from one square meter and from each experimental variant were collected and analyzed in laboratory. The yield components of the cob were determined and the grain yield was calculated in tons.ha-1 and reported at moisture content of 14%. The obtained data were statistically processed by analysis of variance. In our study, the highest values of the yield components (cob length, number of kernels per cob, cob weight, and kernel weight on cob, except thousand grain weight) were registered in the case of maize as preceding crop and fertilization conditions of N40+80P40, which leaded to the highest values of the grain yield. Nitrogen application in the growth stage of five leaves increased the values of the yield component (except thousand grain weight) and of the grain yield, but according to the preceding crop.