Sowing Date Adjustment: An Applicable Option Tackling Adverse Effect of Climate Warming on Maize Yield in China

Sowing in time is critical for maximizing maize yield and quality traits dealing with climate warming, which has been stated to decreasing maize yield as the heat stress. However there exist discrepancy in previous studies about advancing or postponing sowing time in China to increase maize yield. To keep grain production stable and guide agronomic measures under climate warming, there is an urgent need of better understanding crop response and adaptation to temperature change. In this study, a sowing date field experiment of spring and summer maize was conducted in maize planting belt. Four sowing dates was designed from April to June with 10-day interval without drought stress. It was found that maize phenology shifted markedly in response to sowing date variation, confirming that temperature increasing accelerated crop growth rate of vegetative and reproductive stages and shortened crop cycle. Biomass accumulation and grain yield decreased significantly with delaying sowing date for both spring and summer maize. Maize yield decrease was reflected in the reduction of grain number and 100-grain weight. Moreover, Protein concentration of maize decreased with delaying sowing date, but the concentration of starch, fat and fiber was not significantly affected. This study demonstrated that advancing sowing date for 10 days on the basis of farmers’ practice, grain yield increased 6.0% for spring maize and 13.3% for summer maize. Our results promote the understanding of phenology and yield responses to temperature changes, which can be benefit to purser effective options on climate change for different regions.