AERIAL DRY-MATTER PRODUCTION AND INTERCEPTED SOLAR-RADIATION FOR VARIOUS MAIZE GENOTYPES

For a particular place, the dry matter production of a maize crop (M) is a function of the leaf area duration (D); for places with different irradiations, the relationships between M and D are not the same. Dry matter production in various places is a function of the amounts of photosynthetically active radiation trapped by crops (G); the trapping efficiency varies with leaf area index. For genotypes of various earliness or structure (dent, flint), the relationships between M and G are similar, but the photosynthetic efficiency is higher at silking than at maturity.