Effects of Sowing Date and Plant Density on Agronomic Characters and Yield of Foxtail Millet Cultivar Shuxiang 1 with High -Tillering Capacity

Yang Yanbing; Qin Ling; Chen Erying; Liu Bin; Guan Yan’an

doi:10.14083/j.issn.1001-4942.2016.08.009

Abstract：With the foxtail millet cultivar Jigu 19 with low tillering capacity as contrast,we studied the effects of plant density and sowing date on tillering and yield correlated characters of Shuxiang 1 with high -tillering capacity.The results showed that the effective tillers per plant of spring -sowed (April 30)Shuxiang 1 were 2.30,1.90,1.37 and 1.35 respectively when the plant density were 15 thousand,25 thousand,35 thousand and 45 thousand plants per 666.7m2 respectively.With the increase of plant density,the effective tillers per plant decreased,but the population spikes and yield increased.The yield was the highest at 45 thousand plants per 666.7m2 ,and the lowest at 15 thousand plants per 666.7m2 which was significantly lower than the other density treatments.The tillering capacity of summer -sowed Shuxiang 1 was greatly reduced compared with spring -sowed one,and the effective tillers per plant were 0.80 and 0.46 at the density of 15 thousand and 25 thousand plants per 666.7m2 respectively,while there were no effective tillers at the density <br> of 35 thousand and 45 thousand plants per 666.7m2 .The plant height,spike length,spike diameter and grain weight per spike of tiller stem were significantly lower than those of the main stem in Shuxiang 1.The yield of Shuxiang 1 was lower than that of Jigu 19 under the four plant densities.At the density of 45 thousand plants per 666.7m2 ,the yields of Jigu 19 were 315.7 and 471.2 kg per 666.7m2 respectively under spring sowing and summer sowing respectively,which increased by 7.05% (P >0.05)and 25.3% (P <0.05)respective-ly compared to Shuxiang 1.In conclusion,the ear bearing capacity of tillers was closely correlated with plant density and sowing date in high -tillering foxtail millet varieties;the effective tillers per plant decreased with the increase of plant density and the postponement of sowing date.The yield was significantly different between different plant densities;the population of high -tillering varieties had certain self adjusting ability,and the ear bearing of main stem played a key role in the formation of yield.The yield of Shuxiang 1 with high -tille-ring capacity was significantly lower than that of Jigu 19 with lower -tillering capacity,so we should pay more attention to varieties with fewer or no tillers in production of foxtail millet.