Dear Members,

I am helping a coleague in a trial on which he is screening maize =
varieties for drought tolerance. The plots (parcels?) for each maize =
material are only two rows 5 meter long. I would like to get data to =
adjust the genetic coeficients for some of the varieties. I am keeping =
track of soil initial conditions as water content, fertility, number of =
leaves, silking and tasselling date and I can get weather data, but I =
can not damage some kernels to check on the physiological maturity (by =
checking the black layer) since the number of plants is small. Is there =
any other way to get maize physiological maturity date without having to =
check on the grains? He harvest all varieties at the same day when all =
plants are no longer green and, according to him, grain umidity varies a =
lot between varieties since their cycle are quite different.
Any advice?

Regards,

Camilo L. T. Andrade
Embrapa Maize and Sorghum
Rod. MG 424, Km 65, PO Box 151
35701.970, Sete Lagoas, MG
Brazil
Phone: +55 21 31 3779 1235
Fax: +55 21 31 3779 1088