Corn is a well-known representative of the family of cereals, which has been present in the human diet for more than one hundred years. Corn cobs during the famine were worth their weight in gold, they gave food to birds, humans and animals.
Instructions
Step 1
Corn is a heat-loving plant, the seeds of which grow when the soil warms up to ten degrees. The growth of the vegetative mass occurs when the average daily air temperature is above ten degrees. The following significant phases of plant formation are distinguished: the emergence of seedlings, the appearance of the fifth leaf, the maturation of the seventh and eighth leaves (the period of intensive growth), panicle formation, flowering of the cob and full ripeness. Seedlings appear on the seventh to fifteenth day after sowing. This stage depends on soil moisture and temperature conditions.
Step 2
When five or six leaves are formed on corn, the growth of the aerial part stops. This is due to the intensive development of the root system, which consists of several layers. The grain grows with an embryonic root, lateral roots appear from it, which make up the first tier of the system. The second tier of the root system is formed from the first node of the underground part. Aerial or supporting roots appear from the above-ground nodes, which go deeper into the soil and ensure the stability of the plant.
Step 3
The roots of corn can go to a depth of 200 cm. With insufficient moisture, the roots spread deeper at the beginning of the growing season, and with abundant moisture in the soil layer, the roots are located at the surface of the earth. After the appearance of the eighth leaf, intensive growth of the culture begins. For a day, corn can grow by 5-6 cm. At this time, lateral shoots - stepchildren - can form. The reason for their appearance can be: low temperature at the early stage of the growing season, oversaturation with nitrogen fertilizers, sparse sowing. At the end of the growing season, the stepsons die off.
Step 4
Corn is a dioecious, cross-pollinated and monoecious plant that has a female (panicle) and a male inflorescence (ear). When the panicle blooms, pollen is formed in the anthers, and it is ejected. Flowering time depends on weather conditions, ranging from several hours to nine days. The formation of the ear is strongly influenced by environmental conditions. In case of insufficient nutrition, moisture deficit and weed infestation, the development of the ear may lag behind the development of the panicle. As a result, the ears have fewer grains in a row, and one can observe through the grain.
Step 5
Low humidity and high temperatures reduce the viability of pollen, negatively affect pollination and grain size on the cobs. The normal processes of pollination and flowering are disrupted, the threads of the cob dry up, and the pollen grains do not have the opportunity to germinate, and eventually die. After fertilization, the grain begins to fill; during this period, reserve substances (saccharides, polysaccharides) accumulate in the corn. The next important stage that completes the growing season is the appearance of a black point. It should be clearly visible at the base of the caryopsis. Its appearance means the end of the grain filling.
