@article{8e405f9bc2a548bdb1768b39939f648d,
title = "Weather during key growth stages explains grain quality and yield of maize",
abstract = "Maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield and compositional quality are interrelated and are highly influenced by environmental factors such as temperature, total precipitation, and soil water storage. Our aim was to develop a regression model to account for this relationship among grain yield and compositional quality traits across a large geographical region. Three key growth periods were used to develop algorithms based on the week of emergence, the week of 50% silking, and the week of maturity that enabled collection and modeling of the effect of weather and climatic variables across the major maize growing region of the United States. Principal component analysis (PCA), stepwise linear regression models, and hierarchical clustering analyses were used to evaluate the multivariate relationship between weather, grain quality, and yield. Two PCAs were found that could identify superior grain compositional quality as a result of ideal environmental factors as opposed to low-yielding conditions. Above-average grain protein and oil levels were favored by less nitrogen leaching during early vegetative growth and higher temperatures at flowering, while greater oil than protein concentrations resulted from lower temperatures during flowering and grain fill. Water availability during flowering and grain fill was highly explanatory of grain yield and compositional quality.",
keywords = "Climate, Corn, Crop models, Data mining, Grain quality, Maize, Precipitation, Principal component analysis, Temperature, Yield",
author = "Butts-Wilmsmeyer, {Carrie J.} and Seebauer, {Juliann R.} and Lee Singleton and Below, {Frederick E.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was funded in part by the University Committee on Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. EAR 9418839). We thank Martin Sharp and Peter Nienow for loan of the glacier surveying and radio-echo sounding equipment, and Andrew Elmore for his assistance in the field in 1996. We also thank Jeff Olsenholler for his contributions. Funding Information: The Nanga Parbat Project is primarily supported by the Continental Dynamics Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation. The project was initiated by P.K. Zeitler to assess the recent and still active tectonic processes responsible for the extraordinary episode of very young, high-grade metamorphism, partial melting, high fold and fault strain, and rapid denudation focused around the center of the mountain. Fieldwork was initiated in 1995 to determine which crustal and surface processes were most instrumental in the development of Nanga Parbat during the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia. More than 20 investigators and students from a variety of disciplines and countries have collaborated to integrate into a geodynamic framework measurements made using petrology, geochronology, stable-isotope geochemistry, radiogenic tracer-isotope geochemistry, structural geology, radiocarbon, cosmogenic isotope and thermoluminescence dating, geomorphology and physical modeling. In addition, remote sensing of the surface and subsurface has included ice penetrating radio-echo sounding, magnetotelluric depth profiling, seismic tomography, satellite multispectral analysis, and satellite stereoscopy for production of a high resolution digital elevation model. With a diversity of data sets and significant data volume, a strong GIS approach to data collection, analysis, and portrayal has been required. Using this multidisciplinary approach, the group has begun to: (1) characterize the current state and evolution of the Indian crust making up the Nanga Parbat massif; (2) document the processes responsible for this evolution; and (3) combine this information into a coherent model applicable to other orogens. Our research activities focus on the remote sensing, GIS and geomorphology of the upper portion of the lithosph{\`e}re. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the authors.",
year = "2019",
month = jan,
day = "2",
doi = "10.3390/agronomy9010016",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "9",
journal = "Agronomy",
issn = "2073-4395",
publisher = "MDPI AG",
number = "1",
}