Effects of Meteorological Factors on Yield Characters of Waxy Corn at Different Sowing Dates

In production, the yield of waxy corn is often improved by adjusting fertilization and planting density, while the influence of metecological factors on yield is ignored. In this study, the change of waxy corn growth stage and the influence of main meteorological factors on the yield of fresh ear at the best harvest time were analyzed by adjusting the sowing date. The results showed that the duration of each growth stage was shortened with the delay of sowing date. Correlation analysis showed that daily temperature difference, rainfall, sunshine duration and effective accumulated temperature in the filling stage had significant correlation with most yield characters. The daily temperature difference, sunshine duration and effective accumulated temperature were significantly positively correlated with ear diameter, grain number per row, 100-grain weight and fresh ear yield, but negatively correlated with bald tip length. Combined with regression analysis, the fresh ear yield had a significant quadratic curve relationship with the main meteorological factors in the filling stage. The fresh ear yield had an increasing relationship with the daily temperature difference, sunshine duration and effective accumulated temperature in the filling stage, and a decreasing relationship with the rainfall, and an increase and then decrease relationship with the daily average temperature. The results showed that hot and rainy during filling stage of spring waxy corn in central Zhejiang Province was not conducive to the increase of fresh ear yield, commodity and 100-grain weight. It was suggested that early sowing was beneficial to weaken the influence of unfavorable meteorological factors during filling stage.