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ISSN:2682-4043
DOI:10.36462/H.BioSci.20226

Research Article

Open Access

Contacts of authors

* To whom correspondence should be

addressed: Pramod Prasad Dahal
1 Agriculture Extension Officer,Governemnt of

Nepal,Nepal.
2 Agriculture and Forestry University, Agronomy,

Rampur, Chitwan.
3 Agriculture and Forestry University, Agronomy,

Rampur, Chitwan.
4 Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Singhdur-

bar Plaza.

Revised: August 20, 2020

Accepted: November 24, 2020

Published: March 28, 2021

Citation: Dahal PP, Basnet KB, Sah SK and
Karki TB . Effect of weather parameters on
growth stages of winter maize explain the grain
yield. 2021 Mar 28;4:bs20226

Copyright: © 2021 Dahal et al.. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which per-
mits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.

Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are
within the paper and supplementary materials.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding
to report.
Competing interests: The authors declare that they
have no competing interests.

Effect of weather parameters on growth stages of winter maize ex-
plain the grain yield

Pramod Prasad Dahal*1, Komal Bahadur Basnet2, Shrawan Kumar Sah3 and Tika
Bahadur Karki4

Abstract
A study was conducted on research farm of National Maize Research Program (NMRP),

Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during winter season of 2015/16 laid out in split-split plot design

with three replications consisting of two FYM levels (FYM at 10 t ha-1 and no FYM

application), three nitrogen levels (100, 75 and 50% N of recommended dose P and K

remaining constant) and two levels of seed inoculation (Azotobacter chrococcum seed

inoculation and no inoculation) with Rampur-2 maize hybrid in Nepal. One of the major

factor affecting maize production is weather and this paper is prepared to assess the

suitability of weather condition at different growth stages of winter season hybrid maize in

condition of western Chitwan, Nepal at NMRP. The result shows that the requirement of

the maize crop during different growth stages i.e. temperature, rainfall, relative humidity

were fulfilled which helped to obtain remarkably higher grain yield (4.26 t ha-1) in the

experiment compared to average national grain yield (2.84 t ha-1) of maize.

Keywords: Integrated plant nutrient management, Winter maize, Weather parameters, Maize

growth stages

Introduction
Maize (Zea mays L.) can be grown easily in any season and is important cereal crop due to

fast growing nature, higher yield, palatability and nutritiousness resulting easily accessible food and

feed for humans as well as animals [1]. In Nepal maize is grown as a staple food crop for many

years. In terms of area and production, maize ranks second to rice [2]. It shares about 6.54 % in

Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP). Maize can grow in a wide range of environment;

however, warm climate with temperature ranging from 21 to 30 °C is most favorable [3]. Moreover, it

was reported [4]that maize growth is best with temperature between 18 °C and 27 °C during day time

and around 14°C at night. The experimental site falls under the sub-tropical humid climatic belts of

Nepal with three distinct seasons i.e. November to February (winter), March to May (hot spring) and

June to October (rainy). The maximum temperature during the coldest month of year (December to

February) reaches to 27 °C whereas the minimum temperature during this period ranges from 6 to

10 °C. Likewise, the maximum temperature during hottest month of year (May to June) is measured

up to 42 °C. Recent studies conclusively proved that maize is a potential winter season crop having

three times higher yield potential than kharif crop [5]. According to annual report of NMRP [6], the

productivity of winter maize is about 6-7 t ha-1 while that of summer maize is around 4.0 t ha-1.

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Dahal et al., 2021 Effect of weather parameters on growth stages of winter maize explain the grain yield

The mean annual temperature trend at Rampur, Chitwan dur-
ing 1968 to 2008 showed that the increase of temperature seemed
to be more in the recent decade than the former decade and the
trend was 0.039 °C per year [7]. Thus the changed weather con-
dition can create impact upon the maize production as yield of
maize is primarily influenced by sunlight, temperature, available
plant nutrients and water supply [8]. One of the major factors
affecting maize production is weather and this paper is prepared
to assess the suitability of weather condition at different growth
stages of winter season hybrid maize in condition of western
Chitwan, Nepal at NMRP.

Materials and Methods
A experiment was conducted during winter season (Octo-

ber to March) of 2015 at the research field of National Maize
Research Program (NMRP), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal with Ram-
pur Hybrid-2 variety. The experimental soil was sandy loam in
texture, having slightly acidic pH (5.4). Organic matter (4.02),
total nitrogen (0.11), available phosphorus (58.0 kg ha-1), avail-
able potassium (253.8 kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out
in strip-split plot design consisting of 12 treatments with three
replications. FYM levels as main plots (FYM at 10 t ha-1 and
no FYM application), three nitrogen levels as sub plots (100, 75
and 50% N of recommended dose P and K remaining constant)
and two levels of seed inoculation (Azotobacter chrococcum seed
inoculation and no inoculation) as sub-sub plots. Farm Yard
Manure (FYM) was applied two weeks before sowing and was
incorporated into soil. Chemical fertilizers: urea, single super
phosphate (SSP), diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate
of potash (MOP) were also applied as main source of nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium, respectively. Urea was applied in
three splits; at sowing, knee high and tasseling stages. Azotobac-
ter was applied as seed inoculation preparing of slurry of 10%
sugar solution mixing 100 gm of sugar on 1000 ml of water and
was boiled and azotobacter were applied after cooling on shade.
Harvesting was completed on March of 2014, from net plot area.
Weather data were collected from meteorological data center near
(100m) the research field.

Weather condition during the experimentation

The experiment field receives regular precipitation of 1919.5
mm (NMRP, 2015/16).The average weather parameters regarding
minimum as well as maximum temperatures, relative humidity
and total rainfall are presented at an interval of two weeks in
Figure 1. The weather condition during the period of experi-

mentation presented in the Figure 1 and Table 1 shows that the
higher value of maximum temperature (33.85 °C) was recorded
on 1st week of September which gradually declined up to 3rd
week of December (21.1 °C). Thereafter, it increased up to 24.69
°C on 1st week of January and then declined to 21.05 °C on 4th
week of January. Further, the values of maximum temperature
were found to increase up to 32.84 °C on 2nd week of March
and then remained at the same level at the 4th week of March
(32.51°C).

Figure 1. Weather condition during the course of experimentation at NMRP,
Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal, 2015/16.

On the other hand, the minimum temperature was found to
decrease from first week of September (26.60 °C) to 4th week
of December (6.36 °C) and then remained almost at the same
level (8.16 to 9.64 °C) from 1st week of January to 1st week of
February and thereafter increased to 18.43 °C on 2nd week of
March. Further, similar minimum temperature (18.61 °C) was
recorded on 4th week of March. In spite of it, the maximum
rainfall of 43.6mm was recorded on 2nd week of September and
thereafter it declined to zero precipitation on 1st week of October.
However, a remarkable rainfall of 25.83mm was recorded on
4th week of October. Further, there was no rainfall from the 1st
week of November to 3rd week of February with the exception
of January 3rd week where there was a rainfall of 7.7 mm. The
relative humidity was found to increase from 1st week (81.86%)
to 3rd week (89.14%) and then declined on 4th weeks (87.33%)
of September. Similarly, it increased from 1st (82.14%) to 2nd
(88.29%) and then remained at the same level in 3rd (82.29%) and
4th (82.10%) weeks of October. Further, the values of relative
humidity were increasing from 90.86% on 1st week of November
to 100% on 1st week of December and thereafter remained at this
level up to 4th week of January with exception of 3rd week of
January where it was a little decreased (98.43%). Thereafter, the

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Dahal et al., 2021 Effect of weather parameters on growth stages of winter maize explain the grain yield

Table 1. Weekly maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and solar radiation during research period at NMRP, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal,
2015/16.

Stage Date Min Temp Max. Temp Avg Rainfall RH%

Germination 2nd week of Oct. 23.125 32.845 27.99 8.3mm 85.21

Knee high 1st week of Nov. 17.75 30.31 24.03 0 90.86

Grand Growth 1st-4th week of Nov. 16.18 28.305 22.24 0 94.92

Tasseling and Silking 1st-2nd Dec. 13.75 24.39 19.07 0 100

Milking 4th of January 8.11 21.05 14.58 0 100

Dough 4th of Feb 15.04 28.45 21.75 0.96 mm 95.03

Grain Filling 3rd Jan-3rd Feb 10.33 24.35 17.34 7.7mm 93.615

Physiological Maturity 3rd March week 16.59 31.69 24.14 26.8mm 79.43

Total rainfall during crop season 14.35 27.23 20.79 72.99mm 93.86

relative humidity gradually declined from 98.14% on 1st week
of February to 70.60% on 4th week of March.

Statistical Analysis

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the row, col-
umn and interaction effect of FYM, nitrogen levels and biofertil-
izer on yield and yield attributing characters of maize at 5% level
of significance. Values were computed using software program
MSTATC, Gen STAT and Microsoft excel 2010.

Results
Analyzed data of phenological stages (Table 2) showed that

on an average, the emergence of maize seeds occurred at 6.36
DAS whereas the maize plants attained knee high stage (34.06
DAS) after around one month of seed emergence Further, tassel-
ing stage (73.10 DAS) was recorded after one month of the knee
high stage. There was only four days difference between tasseling
and silking stages. The silking, milking and dough stages were
observed at 76.94, 126.18 and 144.17 DAS, respectively. Finally,
the maize crop was physiologically matured after about 20 days
of dough stage (164.53 DAS).

Discussion
The average minimum and maximum temperature during the

cropping period were 14.35 and 27.23 °C suitable for growth
and development of maize, respectively (Table 1). Further, the
annual precipitation of experimental area was 1919.5 mm (NMRP,
2015/15), however, maize requires rainfall of about 600 - 1,200
mm throughout the year with uniform distribution [15]. Thus, the
availability of water was sufficient for growth and development
of the maize crop.

The minimum temperature required for maize seed germi-
nation is 10 °C. In addition, emergence gets far more rapid and
uniform above 16 °C and around the temperature of about 20 °C,

maize usually emerges within 5-6 days after sowing [9]. Thus,
the minimum and maximum temperatures recorded during the
germination of maize seed in the experimental site were 23.13
°C and 32.84 °C with the average of 27.99 °C. Therefore, the
germination of seeds took place within 6 days. [10] stated that
for uniformity of initial stand, a minimum temperature of 17
°C to 20 °C is required but during knee high stage, the average
temperature was 24.03 °C with minimum and maximum tem-
peratures of 17.75 and 30.31 °C, respectively. This indicates
that average temperature was suitable for the establishment of
plant stand in the experiment. Further, during vegetative growth
stage (grand growth stage) the minimum, maximum and average
temperatures were 16.18, 28.31 and 22.24 °C, respectively. In
this context, Joshi [11] reported that optimum temperature for
vegetative phase ranges from 28 to 34 °C. Venkataraman and
Krishanan [4] also mentioned that range of temperature for the
growth of maize is from 9°to 46 °C with the optimum around 34
°C during vegetative growth stage.

Thus, the minimum temperature was found higher but maxi-
mum temperature was slightly lower due to winter season. How-
ever, it was close to the temperature given by Joshi [11]. More-
over, in the experimental site, the average temperature during
tasseling and silking stages equaled to 19.07 °C. With respect
to it, Venkataraman [12] reported that the optimum temperature
for tasseling ranges from 21 to 30 °C and temperatures above
32 °C during reproductive stage reduced the yield. Thus average
temperatures during tasseling and silking were close to optimum
level.

Further, minimum and maximum temperatures during these
stages were 13.75 and 24.39 °C, respectively. In respect of it,
Berbecel and Eftimescu [13], mentioned that the maximum tem-
perature above 32 °C around tasseling and pollination increases
the differentiation process of the reproductive parts and conse-

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Dahal et al., 2021 Effect of weather parameters on growth stages of winter maize explain the grain yield

Table 2. Weekly maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and solar radiation during research period at NMRP, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal,
2015/16. Table shows Treatments (Tr), Germination (Gr), Knee high (KH), Tasseling (Tas),Silking(Si), Milking (Mi), Dough (Do), Physiological maturity (PM),
and Grain Yield (t ha-1) (GY)

Paramter Phenological stages (DAS)

Tr Gr KH Tas Si Mi Do PM GY

FYM levels (t ha-1)

0 6.56 34.56 74.21 77.39 126.33 145.06 164.4 3.91

10 6.17 33.56 73.35 76.5 125.61 145.28 164.61 4.58

Statistical analysis

F test NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS

LSD (=0.05) 1.04 1.9 2.89 2.43 3 1.57 2.91 2.2

SEm (±) 0.17 0.31 0.48 0.4 0.5 0.26 0.82 0.36

Nitrogen levels Tr Gr KH Tas Si Mi Do PM GY

50 6.41a 35.67a 74.50a 78.92a 126.08a 146.17a 166.58a 2.95c

75 6.42a 34.92a 72.00b 75.67b 126.42a 145.16a 165.42a 4.64b

100 6.25a 31.58b 72.08b 75.24b 125.41a 144.17b 162.58b 5.16a

Statistical analysis

F test NS * * * NS NS * **

LSD (=0.05) 0.42 2.83 1.72 2.57 1.67 1.76 2.23 0.41

SEm (±) 0.13 0.87 0.53 0.79 0.51 0.54 0.68 0.12

Biofertilizer Tr Gr KH Tas Si Mi Do PM GY

No inoculation 6.33 34.17 73.11 77.28 126.54 145.28 164.72 3.95

With inoculation 6.39 33.94 72.61 76.61 125.89 145.06 164.33 4.55

Statistical analysis

F test NS NS NS NS * NS NS **

LSD (=0.05) 0.21 1.01 0.67 0.72 0.48 1.1 0.5 0.4

SEm(±) 0.07 0.35 0.22 0.23 0.17 0.35 0.162 0.13

CV, % 4.5 2.1 1.5 1.3 1 0.5 0.6 12.9

Grand mean 6.36 34.06 72.88 76.94 126.18 144.17 164.53 4.25

Recommended dose of Nitrogen: 120 kg N ha-1 Azotobacter chroococcum seed inoculation: 40 g kg-1 seed

quently the rate of kernel abortion. Further, according to Adjetey
[3] at high temperatures the pollens gets shed before silk become
receptive or cause either death of tassel or drying out of silk.
Therefore, to achieve higher grain yield the temperatures of the
late vegetative and reproductive phases should be relatively lower
than 30 °C which was also recorded in this experiment.

Finally, during maturity, the minimum, maximum and av-
erage temperatures were 16.59, 31.69 and 26.8 °C respectively.
Joshi (2015) stated that optimum temperature during ripening
stage ranges from 32 to 35 °C. Thus, the maximum temperature
of the experimental site was close to it but the average tempera-
ture was a little lower which might be related to the winter season
and subtropical climatic condition.

Thus, on the basis of above discussion it is obvious that
in general, the weather condition related to temperature was
suitable for growth and development of maize. Further, a rainfall
of 43.60, 10.3 and 9.6 mm were recorded at three, two and one
week before germination, respectively (Figure 1) which provided
enough moisture for germination of maize seeds. Moreover, a
rainfall of 8.3mm was recorded at sowing which also helped in
better germination of seeds. Germination of maize seed was
completed within 6 days.

No rainfall was recorded during knee high and grand growth
stages. Others [10] stated that moisture stress in early growing
season causes a large reduction in grain yield. Therefore, the
experimental plots were irrigated at this stage. Kranzet al., [14]

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Dahal et al., 2021 Effect of weather parameters on growth stages of winter maize explain the grain yield

mentioned that corn requires most of the water during the early
reproductive growth stages i.e. tasseling and silking.

Moreover, the requirement of maize in water is more promi-
nent during the tasselling to silking stage [15] which is considered
critical as grain formation initiates during this period. Thus the
availability of soil moisture at the time of tasselling is therefore
vital for the production of high yield in maize [16].

Futher, period of silking and ear growth the corn is most
sensitive to moisture deficiency as far as the grain yield is con-
cerned [4]. However, there was no rainfall during this period in
the experimental site due to which the crop was irrigated at this
phase.

Another critical period with respect to crop requirement in
moisture is grain filling period. Corn requires one third part of
seasonal water requirement at beginning of dough stage. Drought
or water stress at dough stage results in acceleration of maturity
preventing grains from gaining full size as well as weight [14].
However, there was 7.7 mm rainfall during grain filling period
and 0.96mm at dough stage which might had helped to some
extent fulfill the crop requirement in water.

Thus, in general, the requirement of the maize crop in water
was fulfilled either through rainfall or irrigation which helped to
obtain remarkably higher average grain yield (4.26 t ha-1) in the
experiment as compared to average national grain yield (3.09 t
ha-1) of maize (MOAD-ABPSD, 2015). It concludes from above
discussion that weather recorded during different key growth
stages of winter maize in the experimental site were resultant
and it is essential to give emphasis on weather conditions in
improvement of grain yield of winter maize.

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	Abstract
	Introduction
	Materials and Methods
	Weather condition during the experimentation
	Statistical Analysis

	Results
	Discussion
	References

