AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF CORN CULTURE UNDER DIFFERENT SPACE ARRANGEMENTS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL

The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance of maize as a function of the plant population and line spacings, in a Red Yellow Argisol in northeast Brazil. The experiment was carried out in an area belonging to the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil, with a randomized complete block design in the 2 x 2 factorial scheme, with 20 replications, with two populations (45,000 and 65,000 plants ha-1) and two spacings (0.45 and 0.90 m). It was evaluated the yield per hectare, number of spikes per hectare, plants per hectare, height of the plant, height of insertion of the first spike, total dry mass, number of grains per row, number of rows, emergence and stem diameter. Significant differences were observed between population and spacing for yield per hectare, spikes per hectare, plants per hectare, and emergence. The population of 65,000 plants ha-1 in the 0.90 m spacing provided an increase in yield per hectare, spike per hectare and emergence, when compared to the population of 45,000 ha-1 plants and row spacings of 0.45 m.