Impacts of Plant Density and Fertilization on Harvest and Quality of Maize Hybrids for Bioethanol Production
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Department of Crop Production and Horticulture, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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Department of Agriculture, Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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Department of Ukrainian and Foreign Languages, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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Department of Botany, Genetics and Plant Protection, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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Oleksandr Mazur
Department of Crop Production and Horticulture, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University 3 Soniachna Str., 21008, Vinnytsia, Ukraine
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ABSTRACT
The article describes the research results on impacts of plant density, fertilization, and hybrid characteristics of maize on yield level, starch content and yield, bioethanol yield, protein content. The evidence demonstrated that the production levels of starch, bioethanol and protein are chiefly dictated by total grain yield observed across the experimental conditions, with the starch and protein concentrations within the maize kernels playing a significantly smaller role.
Research findings demonstrated that peak crop production was achieved when agricultural methods were employed to their completest extent and aimed at optimizing macro- and micronutrient nutrition (applнштп Ecoline Boron, Ecoline Zinc, zinc sulfate against the N100P31 background), combined with optimized plant density and alignment between plants/ha and available resources. Particularly, the hybrid DKS 3795 produced 8.8 t/ha and DKS 3972 – 10.1 t/ha at a plant density with 70 thsd. plants/ha, while DKS 4351 achieved 9.4 t/ha at a density with 60 thsd. plants/ha. The highest starch content occurred while the control treatment (without fertilization), which tended to increase with higher plant density. However, the maximum starch yield was recorded in the treatment where maize nutrition was optimized with macro- and micronutrients due to increased grain yield. Specifically, starch yield reached 6.3 t/ha for DKS 3795 (FAO 280) at a density of 70 thsd. plants/ha, 7.3 t/ha for DKS 3972 (FAO 300), and 6.8 t/ha for DKS 4351 (FAO 350) at a density with 60 thsd. plants/ha.
Under this fertilization system, the highest bioethanol yield was noticed: at 70 thsd. plants/ha for DKS 3795 – 3.5 thsd. l/ha and DKS 3972 – 4.1 thsd. l/ha; at 60 thsd. plants/ha for DKS 4351 – 3.7 thsd. l/ha. These values exceeded the control treatment by 1.5 for DKS 3795, 2.0 for DKS 3972, and 1. thsd. l/ha for DKS 4351, respectively.
The level of protein exhibited a consistent downward inclination as the number of plants/ha reached 60 to 80 thsd.: a reduction of 0.2-0.3% was observed for DKS 3795 (corresponding to FAO 280 maturity group), a 0.2-0.3% drop for DKS 3972 (FAO 300), and reduction ranging 0.3-0.5% for DKS 4351 (FAO 350).