Abstract
Core Ideas Increased maize plant population induced leaf senescence, especially lower leaf. Senescence of lower leaves could significantly decrease the distribution of C to the root system, root activity weakened, reducing the uptake of nitrogen. Senescence of lower leaves decreased the accumulation of biomass, resulting in lower yield. To date, little attention has been paid to the effects of lower position leaves on root function and N uptake in maize. This study was conducted to analysis the relationship between lower leaf senescence and root function in different plant population (67,500 plants ha −1 , 90,000 plants ha −1 ). We used the maize varieties DengHai661 (DH661) and ZhengDan958 (ZD958) in field and soil column experiments to unravel this physiological puzzle. The field experiment evaluated their effects on N accumulation and grain yield. Relative to the low plant population, the high plant population reduced leaf area (52.6–69.2%), and the root biomass (25.5–31.8%) per plant. Grain weight and the number of grains per ear were also negatively affected. Biomass and grain yield generally increased ( P < 0.05) with increasing plant population. The grain yield of DH661 and ZD958 increased by 8.1% and 10.1% in 2015, and 7.5% and 13.0% in 2016, respectively. The N accumulation of two varieties post‐silking decreased. In the soil column experiments, we found that lower leaf senescence suppressed root growth, N uptake, and altered N partition, thereby decreasing green leaf area and ultimately affecting grain yield. Grain yield in DH661 and ZD958 decreased by 5.8 and 8.6%, respectively. Our results suggest that delaying lower leaf senescence in high plant population would be conducive to maintaining the N‐uptake ability of roots, higher canopy photosynthetic capacity, and the building of grain sink to obtain higher yields.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 18
Claim · model-written summary
Increased maize plant population induced leaf senescence, especially of the lower leaves.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Increased maize plant population induced leaf senescence, especially lower leaf”
Claim · model-written summary
Senescence of lower leaves was proposed to decrease carbon distribution to the root system and weaken root activity, reducing nitrogen uptake.
- Outcome
- uptake of nitrogene0
- Qualifier
- decrease the distribution of C to the root system, root activity weakenede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Senescence of lower leaves could significantly decrease the distribution of C to the root system, root activity weakened, reducing the uptake of nitrogen”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Senescence of lower leaves decreased biomass accumulation, resulting in lower yield.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Senescence of lower leaves decreased the accumulation of biomass, resulting in lower yield”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Relative to the low plant population, the high plant population reduced leaf area per plant by 52.6-69.2%.
- Treatment
- the high plant populatione0
- Outcome
- leaf areae1
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 52.6–69.2%e1
- Comparator
- the low plant populatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Relative to the low plant population, the high plant population reduced”
e1“leaf area (52.6–69.2%)”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Relative to the low plant population, the high plant population reduced root biomass per plant by 25.5-31.8%.
- Treatment
- the high plant populatione0
- Outcome
- root biomasse1
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 25.5–31.8%e1
- Comparator
- the low plant populatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Relative to the low plant population, the high plant population reduced”
e1“the root biomass (25.5–31.8%) per plant”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain weight and the number of grains per ear were negatively affected by the high plant population.
- Treatment
- the high plant populatione1
- Outcome
- Grain weight and the number of grains per eare0
- Direction
- decreaseinferrede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Grain weight and the number of grains per ear were also negatively affected”
e1“the high plant population reduced”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Biomass and grain yield generally increased significantly with increasing plant population.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Biomass and grain yield generally increased ( P < 0.05) with increasing plant population”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yield of maize variety DH661 increased by 8.1% in 2015 in the field experiment.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The grain yield of DH661 and ZD958 increased”
e1“8.1% and 10.1% in 2015”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yield of maize variety ZD958 increased by 10.1% in 2015 in the field experiment.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The grain yield of DH661 and ZD958 increased”
e1“8.1% and 10.1% in 2015”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yield of maize variety DH661 increased by 7.5% in 2016 in the field experiment.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The grain yield of DH661 and ZD958 increased”
e1“7.5% and 13.0% in 2016”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yield of maize variety ZD958 increased by 13.0% in 2016 in the field experiment.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The grain yield of DH661 and ZD958 increased”
e1“7.5% and 13.0% in 2016”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Post-silking nitrogen accumulation of the two varieties decreased.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The N accumulation of two varieties post‐silking decreased”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
In soil column experiments, lower leaf senescence suppressed root growth and N uptake.
- Treatment
- lower leaf senescencee0
- Outcome
- root growth, N uptakee0
- Direction
- suppressede0
- Setting
- soil column experimentse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“lower leaf senescence suppressed root growth, N uptake”
e1“In the soil column experiments”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
In soil column experiments, lower leaf senescence altered N partition.
- Treatment
- lower leaf senescencee0
- Outcome
- N partitione0
- Direction
- alterede0
- Setting
- soil column experimentse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“lower leaf senescence suppressed root growth, N uptake, and altered N partition”
e1“In the soil column experiments”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
In soil column experiments, lower leaf senescence decreased green leaf area.
- Treatment
- lower leaf senescencee2
- Outcome
- green leaf areae0
- Direction
- decreasinge0
- Setting
- soil column experimentse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“thereby decreasing green leaf area”
e1“In the soil column experiments”
e2“lower leaf senescence suppressed root growth”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
In soil column experiments, grain yield of DH661 decreased by 5.8%.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Grain yield in DH661 and ZD958 decreased”
e1“5.8 and 8.6%”
e2“In the soil column experiments”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
In soil column experiments, grain yield of ZD958 decreased by 8.6%.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Grain yield in DH661 and ZD958 decreased”
e1“5.8 and 8.6%”
e2“In the soil column experiments”
t0“Maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest that delaying lower leaf senescence in high plant population would help maintain root N uptake, canopy photosynthetic capacity and grain sink to obtain higher yields.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Our results suggest that delaying lower leaf senescence in high plant population”
e1“to obtain higher yields”
t0“Maize”
The same questions in other papers
density · quality: postharvest · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
4 papers in the same direction as this paper · 7 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
8 papers more in this group
See all 12 papers →stage · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
13 papers in the same direction as this paper · 12 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
22 papers more in this group
See all 26 papers →density · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
77 papers in the same direction as this paper · 119 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
193 papers more in this group
See all 197 papers →density · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
518 papers in the same direction as this paper · 132 in the opposite direction · 7 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- positive
654 papers more in this group
See all 658 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.