Influence of Sowing Date on Growth and Yield of Spring Maize in Shanxi Province

The study of four sowing date treatments of spring maize was conducted to investigate the influence of sowing date on growth and yield of spring maize in Shanxi in Xinzhou Shanxi province in 2012. The results showed that the sowing date had a significant impact on the growth and yield of spring maize. When the sowing date delayed, the growth period of spring maize tended to shorten, the filling duration showed prolonged and the seed dry matter decreased. The effect of sowing date on maize yield was significantly within the range of sowing date, which increased firstly and decreased later as the sowing dates postponed. The sowing date, thousand seed weight and bare tip length played an important role on yield. The thousand seed weight and the yield showed very notable positive correlation(r=0.937 2). According to the test results, the maize had the highest yield for seeding sown around April 25, because of plentiful sunshine after flowering, more grain numbers per spike, and heat and rainfall in the same quarter at filling stage which is good for grain filling.