Use of normalised difference vegetation index, nitrogen concentration, and total nitrogen content of whole maize plant and plant fractions to estimate yield and nutritive value of hybrid forage maize
M. R. Islam A C , S. C. (Yani) Garcia A and D. Henry B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Dairy Science Group, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia.
B Dairy Australia, Southbank, Vic. 3006, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: md.islam@sydney.edu.au
Crop and Pasture Science 62(5) 374-382 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP10244
Submitted: 20 July 2010 Accepted: 17 April 2011 Published: 1 June 2011
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the potentials of normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), nitrogen (N) concentration (%), and N content (g/plant) of whole maize plant to estimate yield and nutritive value of hybrid forage maize. Hybrid forage maize was grown with two rates of pre-sowing fertiliser N (0, 135 kg/ha) and three rates of post-sowing fertiliser N (0, 79, 158 kg N/ha) applied at the six-leaf stage. Data on the NDVI and N (% and g/plant) of maize were collected at 2-, 3-, 6-, 8-, 12-, 16-, 18-leaf stages and at harvest. Metabolisable energy (ME) content of the whole maize plant at harvest was estimated from in vitro digestibility. Simple, polynomial, and multiple regression analyses were conducted and only the best-fit models were selected. The 8-leaf stage was found to be the most effective stage for use of the NDVI in predicting biomass yield (R2 = 0.81), grain yield (R2 = 0.72), and N (%) (R2 = 0.92) of forage maize. Nitrogen (%) at the 8-leaf stage was also best related to biomass yield (R2 = 0.88). Multiple regressions at the 3-leaf stage increased the coefficient of determination for both biomass yield and grain yield (R2 = 0.77) over the relationships obtained from N (%) of the whole plant at 2- or 3-leaf stage. The NDVI and N (%) of the whole plant at 8-leaf stage were the best predictors of yield, but failed to predict ME content of the hybrid forage maize. Multiple regression models at the 3-leaf stage were almost as effective as the NDVI and N (%) of whole maize plant at the 8-leaf stage in predicting biomass and grain yield of forage maize.
Additional keywords: forage maize, N content, NDVI, quality, yield.
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