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In the News - August 2009
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| Sweet corn variety Incredible in UAPB test plot -- Research shows that potassium is a limiting nutrient for sweet corn. Growers of sweet corn should adopt practices that increase the soil potassium supplying capacity of their soils. (UAPB photo by Joe Davis.) |
Pine Bluff, Ark. - Low levels of potassium limit the size of ears of sweet corn as well as the overall yield of corn plants, according to research by Dr. Sixte Ntamatungiro, researcher and assistant professor of soil science at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He evaluated the effect of potassium fertilizer on sweet corn growth and yield characteristics at the Agricultural Research Experiment Station in Pine Bluff.
The local sweet corn variety Incredible was planted on May 5, 2008, on silt-loam soil on raised beds in four-row plots, 25 feet long x 10 feet wide at a seeding rate of 50 seeds per plot.
The research design was a randomized one of five potassium rates with three replications. Weeds were controlled by frequent cultivations and one single pre-plant application of Dual and Roundup. Plots were furrow irrigated every week.
The analysis of variance results indicated that potassium rates did not have any significant effect on plant height, ear length, ear shank length or ear husk cover.
The greatest increase in ear diameter, number of rows per ear and ear tip length were obtained with an application of 80 lbs K2O/A (potassium oxide) with adequate amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Dr. Ntamatungiro's research shows that potassium was a limiting nutrient for sweet corn. Plant growth and ear size were reduced at lower potassium rates. Based on his findings, growers of sweet corn, especially those growing corn on silt loam soils in southern Arkansas, should adopt practices that increase the soil potassium supplying capacity of their soils. This will ultimately lead to increased crop yield and quality. One such practice is lime application.
"If the corn crop cannot obtain the appropriate amount of potassium, the yield and quality suffer," says Dr. Ntamatungiro.
August 21, 2009
By Carol Sanders
Writer/editor
UAPB School of Agriculture
Fisheries and Human Sciences
(870) 575-7238
sanders_c@uapb.edu
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