Effects of Plant Density on Forage Nutritive Value of Whole Plant Corn

In a field experiment, the effects of plant density (75 000, 112 500 and 150 000 plant/ha) on forage nutritive value were studied. The main results were as follows: with the increase of plant population, fresh matter and dry matter yield per plant of corn decreased significantly, but those per hectare of corn increased significantly, and higher grains yield was gotten at higher plant density. Forage nutritive quality of whole plant corn changed, and crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fiber (CF), nitrogen free extract (NFE) and general energy (GE) yield increased significantly. It could harvest more forage matter yield and improve forage nutritive value of whole plant corn through the increase of the plant density of corn by applying plant growth regulators.