effects of sowing date and plant density on forage yield and some morphological characteristics of corn (sc.704)

in order to study the effects of sowing date and plant density on forage yield and some morphological characteristics of corn, an experiment was conducted in gorgon research station in 2008. in this experiment two sowing date (18 april and 21 june) and six plant densities (25000, 45000, 65000, 85000, 105000, and 125000 plant per hectare) were evaluated in form of factorial experiment (2×6) with a randomized complete block design. the results showed that height plant, stem diameter, silage yield, ear weight and crud fiber yield was under the influence of planting date and maximum silage yield and ear yield obtained in 18 april with 64900 and 20039 kg/ha respectively. all of varieties under study were influenced by plant density. with increase plant density, stem diameter, ear diameter, ear length and ear weight decreased. maximum silage yield, ear weight, crud protein obtained from 85000 plants per hectare. therefore, for produce silage corn plant density would be lower of 85000 plant/ha.