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Appropriateness of Growing Early Season Maize Varieties in European Corn Belt According to Long- Term Experimental And Simulation Data

Recent changes in climate and management practices have the effect on maize cropping system in European Corn Belt (parts of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia) allowing earlier planting and growing early maturity varieties.While earlier planting is known to be connected to chilling tolerance and not fully investigated in the region, growing earlier maize varieties was taken for granted. The objective of this study is to compare trends for grain yields among maize varieties grouped in different maturity groups (FAO 200 – FAO 600) over twenty years based on experimental and simulation data to determine appropriateness of growing early genotypes in the region. Pre-registration yield trials were used to determine “potential yield” based on the best available maize genotypes regularly updated to match breeding progress. The adjacent yield trials were set in a breeding station near Zagreb, Croatia from 1996 to 2015 where maize hybrids were grouped according to maturity groups (FAO 200, 400, 600). Usual best management practices including optimum planting dates were applied. Simulations were performed in APSIM for the same 20-year period with no management constraints selecting default early, medium and late maize variety options. Meteorological values were obtained from the AGRI4CAST database. The total means for grain yield in the trials were 9.5, 9.9 and 9.8 t/ha for FAO 200, 400, 600, respectively. Regression analysis revealed negative yield trends for FAO 200 and 400, and stagnation for FAO 600 over the years. Almost the same trends were obtained by the simulation. Hence, choosing early maize varieties when planted in optimum planting dates seems not to be the only option in future. The next step will be to use our experimental data to calibrate crop simulation models for potential yield prediction across several climate change scenarios and management options.

maize hybrids, grain yields, maturity groups

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