Performance of corn hybrids in different space arrangements of plants

Due to recenthy introduced maize genotypes, the reassessement of recommendations of management practices is necessary, among them, the spatial arrangement of plants. In this way, this study has as aim to evaluate the best plant arrangement for the corn hybrids XB 6010, XB 6012, XB 7253, XB 9003 and AG 9010 in spacings between rows of 0.45 and 0.90 m and at populations of 50,000, 60,000, 70,000, 80,000 and 90000 plants ha(-1). The experiment was carried out on the crop year of 2009 in Selviria (MS), following a randomized block design with two spaces arranged in bands within each block and the 25 combinations hybrid x populations randomized within spacing. The results were submitted to F test, with the effects of hybrids and spacing compared by Tukey test (p<0.05) and populations by regression analysis. Independent of hybrid and population, the spacing influenced only the stalk diameter, and the use of 0.45 m between rows proportioned the production of plants with larger stalk diameter. Stalk diameter, ear length, ear diameter, prolificacy and weight of one hundred grains decreased linearly with increasing plant population, while plant height was not affected. The best arrangements were: AG 9010 with 90,000 plants ha(-1) and spacing of 0.45 m; XB 7253 with 72,000 plants ha(-1) in both row spacings; and as XB 6010, XB 6012 and XB 9003 did not respond to such arrangements, being recommended 50,000 plants ha(-1) in the two spacings.