SUMMARY Grain and total dry weight of maize (Zea mays L.) at final harvest increased by about 50% and 30%, respectively, when the population was increased from 23000 to 48000 plants/ha, but did not increase further with population up to 74000/ha. Between 6 and 10 weeks after sowing, crop growth rate (C) increased by about 40% with increase in leaf‐area index (L) from 2 to 5·5, despite a concomitant increase in moisture stress. Immediately after flowering, which occurred at 10–11 weeks, C increased up to the greatest L attained, 6·7, and would probably have reached a maximum, with L about 7, when nearly all the incident light would be intercepted by foliage. Later, the L at which C was maximal decreased, probably because the photosyhthetic efficiency of leaves decreased faster with time as L increased; 18 weeks after sowing, when L varied between 3 and 5·5, C was maximal when L was 5. The proportion of grain in the dry matter accumulated after flowering increased from 73% when population was 23000/ha to 82% when it was 60000–74000/ha. Stem weight increased until 3–4 weeks after flowering, then remained constant when population was 23000/ha, but decreased in denser populations. The fraction of the ear consisting of grain increased with population.
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J. C. S. Allison (1969) studied this question.