Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2017, Vol. 16 Issue (06): 1312-1321    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(16)61541-1
Physiology·Biochemistry·Cultivation·Tillage Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Relationship between population competitive intensity and yield in maize cultivars
ZHAI Li-chao1, 2*, XIE Rui-zhi1*, LI Shao-kun1, FAN Pan-pan1

1 Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, P.R.China

2 Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Development Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, P.R.China

Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
Abstract  Competition is a common phenomenon in agriculture production.  Research on the relationship between competitive ability and crop yield is extensive, but the results have been inconsistent.  Few studies have focused on the relationship between population competitive intensity and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars.  The main objective of this study was to determine if a consistent relationship exists between maize yield and competitive ability.  A two-year field experiment was conducted, employing a de Wit replacement series design.  When two maize cultivars were grown in a mixture, yield was reduced for the modern cultivar and increased for the older cultivar.  In each replacement series, per plant level yield of each cultivar, and population level yield of the mixture, decreased with increasing proportion of the older cultivar.  Competitive ratio (CR) reflected differences in competitive ability of the three maize cultivars.  In each replacement series, population competition pressure (PCP) increased with increasing proportion of the older cultivar, indicating that the older cultivar was a strong competitor.  Biomass yield, grain yield, harvest index, thousand-kernel weight, and kernel number per plant, were negatively correlated with PCP.  Our results demonstrated that inter-cultivar competition affects maize productivity, and increasing PCP will decrease translocation of assimilates to grain and, ultimately, reduce yield.  Therefore, there is a negative correlation between population competitive intensity and yield performance in maize, breeders should develop a communal ideotype that would not perform well in competition in future. 
Keywords:  maize      competition      competitive ability      population competitive pressure      yield  
Received: 20 July 2016   Accepted:
Fund: 

We thank the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2015CB150401), the National Maize Industry Technology Research and Development Center, Ministry of Agriculture, China, and the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences for their supports. 

Corresponding Authors:  LI Shao-kun, Tel/Fax: +86-10-82108891, E-mail: lishaokun@caas.cn    

Cite this article: 

ZHAI Li-chao, XIE Rui-zhi, LI Shao-kun, FAN Pan-pan. 2017. Relationship between population competitive intensity and yield in maize cultivars. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 16(06): 1312-1321.

Bhatti I H, Ahmad R, Jabbar A, Nazir M S, Mahmood T. 2006. Competitive behaviour of component crops in different sesame-legume intercropping systems. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 8, 165–167.
Callaway R M, Walker L R. 1997. Competition and facilition: A synthetic approach to interactions in plant communities. Ecology, 78, 1958–1965.
Christian C S, Grey S G. 1941. Interplant competition in mixed wheat populations and its relation to single plant selection. Journal of Council for Science and Industrial Research, 14, 59–68.
Dhima K, Lithourgidis A, Vasilakoglou I, Dordas C. 2007. Competition indices of common vetch and cereal intercrops in two seeding ratio. Field Crops Research, 100, 249–256.
Donald C M. 1968. The breeding of crop ideotype. Euphytica, 17, 385–403.
Donald C M. 1981. Competitive plants, communal plants, and yield in wheat crops. In: Evans L T, Peacock W J, eds., Wheat Science - Today and Tomorrow. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 223–247.
Dong L L, Wei C H, Ma X J, Zhang R. 2007. The relationship between competitive ability and productive performance of spring wheat cultivars. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 27, 4204–4208. (in Chinese)
Du J Q, Wei P P, Yuan Z Q, Ma Y J, Zhang R. 2011. Effects of water and fertilization on relationship between competitive ability and seed yield of modern and old spring wheat cultivars. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 31, 2501–2508. (in Chinese)
Echarte L, Andrade F H. 2003. Harvest index stability of Argentinean maize hybrids released between 1965 and 1993. Field Crops Research, 82, 1–12.
Evans L T. 1981. Yield improvement in wheat: Empirical or analytical. In: Evans L T, Peacock W J, eds., Wheat Science - Today and Tomorrow. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. pp. 203–222.
Fang Y, Liu L, Xu B C, Li F M. 2011. The relationship between competitive ability and yield stability in an older ad modern winter wheat cultivar. Plant and Soil, 347, 7–23.
Fasoula D A. 1990. Correlations between auto-, allo- and nilcompetitionand their implications in plant breeding. Euphytica, 50, 57–62.
Fischer A J, Ramirez H, Gibson K D, Pinheiro B D S. 2001. Competitiveness of semidwarf upland rice cultivars against palisadegrass (Brachiaria brizantha) and signalgrass (Brachiaria decumbens). Agronomy Journal, 93, 967–973.
Garrity D P, Movillon M, Moody K. 1992. Differential weed suppression ability in upland rice cultivars. Agronomy Journal, 84, 586–591.
Gibson K D, Fischer A J, Foin T C, Hill J E. 2003. Crop traits related to weed suppression in water-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.). Weed Science, 51, 87–93.
Hucl P. 1998. Response to weed control by four spring wheat genotypes differing in competitive ability. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 78, 171–173.
Jordan N. 1993. Prospects for weed control through crop interference. Ecological Applications, 3, 84–91.
Keddy P A. 2012. Competition in plant communities. In: Gibson D, ed., Ecology. Oxford University Press, New York.
Lemerle D, Gill G S, Murphy C E, Walker S R, Cousens R D, Mokhtari S, Peltzer S J, Coleman R, Luckett D J. 2011. Genetic improvement and agronomy for enhanced wheat competitiveness with weeds. Australian Journal of Plant Science, 52, 527–548.
Li L, Sun J H, Zhang F S, Li X L, Yang S C, Rengel Z. 2001. Wheat/maize or wheat/soybean strip intercropping: I. Yield advantage and interspecific interactions on nutrients. Field Crops Research, 71, 123–137.
Lithourgidis A S, Vlachostergios D N, Dordas C A, Damalas C A. 2011. Dry matter yield, nitrogen content, and competition in pea-cereal intercropping systems. European Journal of Agronomy, 34, 287–294.
Mariotti M, Masoni A, Ercoli L, Arduini L. 2009. Above- and below-ground competition between barely, wheat, lupin and vench in cereal and legume intercropping system. Grass and Forage Science, 64, 401–412.
Murphy K M, Dawson J C, Jones S S. 2008. Relationship among phenotypic growth traits, yield and weed suppression in spring wheat landraces and modern cultivars. Field Crops Research, 105, 107–115.
Ni H, Moody K, Robles R P, Paller E C, Lales J S. 2000. Oryza sativa plant traits conferring competitive ability against weeds. Weed Science, 48, 200–204.
Qin X L, Niklas K J, Qi L, Xiong Y C, Li F M. 2012. The effects of domestication on the scaling of below- vs. above-ground biomass in four selected wheat (Triticum, Poaceae) genotypes. American Journal of Botany, 99, 1112–1117.
Qin X L, Weiner J, Qi L, Xiong Y C, Li F M. 2013. Allometric analysis of the effects of density on reproductive allocation and harvest index in 6 varieties of wheat (Triticum). Field Crops Research, 144, 162–166.
Reid T A, Navabi A, Cahill J C, Salmon D, Spaner D. 2009. A genetic analysis of weed competitive ability in spring wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 89, 591–599.
Reynolds M P, Acevedo E, Sayre K D, Fischer R A. 1994. Yield potential in modern wheat varieties: Its association with a less competitive ideotype. Field Crops Research, 37, 149–160.
Sahai K. 1955. Competition in plants and its relation to selection. Gold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 20, 137–157.
Snaydon R W. 1984. Plant demography in an agricultural context. In: Dirzo R, Sarukhan J, eds., Perspective on Plant Populatiin Ecology. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA. pp. 389–407.
Song L, Li F M, Fan X W, Xiong Y C, Wang W Q, Wu X B, Turner N C. 2009. Soil water availability and plant competition affect the yield of spring wheat. European Journal of Agronomy, 31, 51–60.
Song L, Zhang D W, Li F M, Fan X W, Ma Q, Turner N C. 2010. Soil water availability alters the inter- and intra-cultivar competition of three spring wheat cultivars bred in different eras. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, 196, 323–335.
Treder K, Wanic M, Nowicki J. 2008. Competition between spring wheat and spring barley under conditions of diversified fertilisation. Part I. Influence on selected morphological characteristics of plants. Acta Agrophysica, 11, 767–780.
Vandeleur R K, Gill G S. 2004. The impact of plant breeding on the grain yield and competitive ability of wheat in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 55, 855–861.
Wahla I H, Ahmad R, Ehsanullah A A, Jabbar A. 2009. Competitive functions of components crops in some barley based intercropping systems. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 11, 69–71. 
Weigelt A, Jolliffe P. 2003. Indices of plant competition. Journal of Ecology, 91, 707–720.
Willey R W, Rao M R. 1980. A competitive ratio for quantifying competition between intercrops. Experimental Agriculture, 16, 117–125.
de Wit C T. 1960. On competition. Verslagen Landbouwkundige Onderzoekingen, 66, 1–82. (in Hollands)
Worthington M, Reberg-Horton C. 2013. Breeding cereal crops for enhanced weed suppression: Optimizing allelopathy and competitive ability. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 39, 213–231.
Zhai L C, Xie R Z, Ma D L, Liu G Z, Wang P, Li S K. 2015. Evaluation of individual competitiveness and the relationship between competitiveness and yield in maize. Crop Science, 55, 2307–2318.
Zhai L C, Xie R Z, Wang P, Liu G Z, Fan P P, Li S K. 2016. Impact of recent breeding history on the competitiveness of Chinese maize hybrids. Field Crops Research, 191, 75–82.
Zhang D Y, Sun G J, Jiang X H. 1999. Donald’s ideotype and growth redundancy: A game theoretical analysis. Field Crops Research, 61, 179–187.
Zhang G G, Yang Z B, Dong S T. 2011. Interspecific competitiveness affects the total biomass yield in an alfalfa and corn intercropping system. Field Crops Research, 124, 66–73.
Zhang L, van der Werf W, Zhang S, Li B, Spiertz J H J. 2007. Growth, yield and quality of wheat and cotton in relay strip intercropping systems. Field Crops Research, 103, 178–188.
Zhang R, Zhang D Y, Yuan B Z, Liu K, Wei H. 1999. A study on the relationship between competitive ability and productive performance of spring wheat in semiarid regions of Loess Plateau. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica, 23, 205–210. (in Chinese)
Zhao D L, Atlin G N, Bastiaans L, Spiertz J H J. 2006. Cultivar weed competitiveness in aerobic rice: Heritability, correlated traits, and the potential for indirect selection. Crop Science, 46, 372–380.
[1] WANG Xing-long, ZHU Yu-peng, YAN Ye, HOU Jia-min, WANG Hai-jiang, LUO Ning, WEI Dan, MENG Qing-feng, WANG Pu. Irrigation mitigates the heat impacts on photosynthesis during grain filling in maize [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(8): 2370-2383.
[2] LIU Dan, ZHAO De-hui, ZENG Jian-qi, Rabiu Sani SHAWAI, TONG Jing-yang, LI Ming, LI Fa-ji, ZHOU Shuo, HU Wen-li, XIA Xian-chun, TIAN Yu-bing, ZHU Qian, WANG Chun-ping, WANG De-sen, HE Zhong-hu, LIU Jin-dong, ZHANG Yong. Identification of genetic loci for grain yield‑related traits in the wheat population Zhongmai 578/Jimai 22[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 1985-1999.
[3] WEI Huan-he, GE Jia-lin, ZHANG Xu-bin, ZHU Wang, DENG Fei, REN Wan-jun, CHEN Ying-long, MENG Tian-yao, DAI Qi-gen. Decreased panicle N application alleviates the negative effects of shading on rice grain yield and grain quality[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2041-2053.
[4] Tiago SILVA, Ying NIU, Tyler TOWLES, Sebe BROWN, Graham P. HEAD, Wade WALKER, Fangneng HUANG. Selection, effective dominance, and completeness of Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2 dual-protein resistance in Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2151-2161.
[5] DING Yong-gang, ZHANG Xin-bo, MA Quan, LI Fu-jian, TAO Rong-rong, ZHU Min, Li Chun-yan, ZHU Xin-kai, GUO Wen-shan, DING Jin-feng. Tiller fertility is critical for improving grain yield, photosynthesis and nitrogen efficiency in wheat[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2054-2066.
[6] FAN Ting-lu, LI Shang-zhong, ZHAO Gang, WANG Shu-ying, ZHANG Jian-jun, WANG Lei, DANG Yi, CHENG Wan-li. Response of dryland crops to climate change and drought-resistant and water-suitable planting technology: A case of spring maize[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2067-2079.
[7] GAO Peng, ZHANG Tuo, LEI Xing-yu, CUI Xin-wei, LU Yao-xiong, FAN Peng-fei, LONG Shi-ping, HUANG Jing, GAO Ju-sheng, ZHANG Zhen-hua, ZHANG Hui-min. Improvement of soil fertility and rice yield after long-term application of cow manure combined with inorganic fertilizers[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(7): 2221-2232.
[8] WANG Peng, WANG Cheng-dong, WANG Xiao-lin, WU Yuan-hua, ZHANG Yan, SUN Yan-guo, SHI Yi, MI Guo-hua. Increasing nitrogen absorption and assimilation ability under mixed NO3 and NH4+ supply is a driver to promote growth of maize seedlings[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(6): 1896-1908.
[9] ZHANG Miao-miao, DANG Peng-fei, LI Yü-ze, QIN Xiao-liang, Kadambot-H. M. SIDDIQUE. Better tillage selection before ridge–furrow film mulching can facilitate root proliferation, increase nitrogen accumulation, translocation, grain yield of maize in a semiarid area[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(6): 1658-1670.
[10] ZHANG Chong, WANG Dan-dan, ZHAO Yong-jian, XIAO Yu-lin, CHEN Huan-xuan, LIU He-pu, FENG Li-yuan, YU Chang-hao, JU Xiao-tang. Significant reduction of ammonia emissions while increasing crop yields using the 4R nutrient stewardship in an intensive cropping system[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(6): 1883-1895.
[11] SONG Chao-yu, ZHANG Fan, LI Jian-sheng, XIE Jin-yi, YANG Chen, ZHOU Hang, ZHANG Jun-xiong. Detection of maize tassels for UAV remote sensing image with an improved YOLOX Model[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(6): 1671-1683.
[12] LI Qian-chuan, XU Shi-wei, ZHUANG Jia-yu, LIU Jia-jia, ZHOU Yi, ZHANG Ze-xi. Ensemble learning prediction of soybean yields in China based on meteorological data[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(6): 1909-1927.
[13] ZHAO Xiao-dong, QIN Xiao-rui, LI Ting-liang, CAO Han-bing, XIE Ying-he. Effects of planting patterns plastic film mulching on soil temperature, moisture, functional bacteria and yield of winter wheat in the Loess Plateau of China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(5): 1560-1573.
[14] WANG Jin-bin, XIE Jun-hong, LI Ling-ling, ADINGO Samuel. Review on the fully mulched ridge–furrow system for sustainable maize production on the semi-arid Loess Plateau[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(5): 1277-1290.
[15] ZHANG Zhen-zhen, CHENG Shuang, FAN Peng, ZHOU Nian-bing, XING Zhi-peng, HU Ya-jie, XU Fang-fu, GUO Bao-wei, WEI Hai-yan, ZHANG Hong-cheng. Effects of sowing date and ecological points on yield and the temperature and radiation resources of semi-winter wheat[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2023, 22(5): 1366-1380.
No Suggested Reading articles found!