Aims: Little is known about the response of sweet maize to particular short- and long-termstresses such as the root restriction imposed by small plug cell trays when a transplantroutine is used. The aim of this work was to describe the effect of a transplant routine onthe physiological components of yield in two sweet maize mutants by means ofexperiments conducted in a marginal maize production area.Study Design: Two maize mutant hybrids: ‘Canner’ (su1) and ‘Butter Sweet’ (sh2) weresown in plastic plug trays (128 cells tray -1 ) and transplanted 15 days after emergence ordirect seed.Place and Duration of Study: Experiment was conducted at the INTA BalcarceExperimental Station, Argentina (37o45′ S, 58o 18′ W) during the 2009-2010 and repeatedtwice during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 growing seasons.Methodology: Plants from direct-seeded or transplant were grown under a fieldenvironment. A randomized complete factorial design with three blocks was used.Results: Results showed that transplanted plants showed increased light interception,harvest index, and yield per unit area than direct-seeded ones. These responses wererelated to a change in leaf area development, crop architecture and anatomical traits suchas the phloem/xylem ratio and vascular bundle/mesophyll ratio.Conclusion: A change in leaf area development and crop architecture when usingtransplanted plants allow increasing sweet maize yield on an area basis. To understandOriginal Research Article
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P. Andonova (2014) studied this question.