Nt:lherlmads Joumol ofAgrialllurlll Science 34 (1986) 67-73

A decimal code for the developmental stages of maize and

its relation to accumulated heat units

J.J. R. Groot, M. J. Kropff, F. J. H. Vossen, C. J. T. Spitters 1 and R. Rabbinge

Department ofTheoretical Production Ecology, Agricultural University, P.O. Box

430, 6700 AK Wageningen, Netherlands

Received 26 April 1985;- accepted 24 September 1985

.i
!

Key-words: maize, growth stage, phenological scale, temperature

Abstract

A detailed phenological sc2.le for maize has been developed for use under West Eu-
ropean conditions. Primary1and secondary growth stages have been distinguished
and characterized with a decimal code. Growth stages are easy recognizable in. the
field. ·
Development codes have been related to an ontogenetic time expressed in accu-
mulated temperature by using detailed phenological observations from two field
experiments. An approximately linear relationship was found between accumu-
lated temperature and development codes with a discontinuity around anthesis.

Introduction

Many plant characteristics and processes depend upon the developmental stage of
the plant. Therefore, a clear des...--ription of the different stages is requireci,.accepta-
ble for plant physiologists, plant breeders, crop protectionists, and crop growth
modellers in particular. Besides for scientific use, the code should also be appro-
priate for field use by maize growers since decisions about husbandry practices are
often related to the developmental stage of the crop.
Aim of the research was to arrive at a detailed stage description and a decimal
code for the phenology of maize for use under West European conditions. A combi-
nation was made of the developmental stage description given by Hanway (as de- ·
scribed by Bottrell, 1979) and the stage description given by Schutte & Meier
(1981). In addition, field observations were done to improve and to test the stage
description.
Accumulated temperature has proven to be more suitable than calendar time to
describe the phenology of maize (Becker et al.~ 1953; Becker, 1974; Brown, 1969;
1
Present address: Foundation of AgriculturaiPlant Breeding (SVP). P.O. Box 117, 6700 AC Wagenin-
gen. Netherlands.

67
J.J. R. GROOTET AL.

Bloc & Gouet, 1976, 1979). The second aim of the research was, therefore, tore·
late the developmen~ codes to an ontogenetic time expressed in accumulated tern·
perature rather than to calendar days.

Phenological scale

General principles
In developing the phenological scale some of the criteria modified after Zadoks et
al. (1974) have been used.
- The growth stages must be easily recognizable under field circumstances without
specialized equipment. __ · ·
- The scale should embrass the complete life cycle: the first stage is the start of ger·
mination, the last stage is the· end of innate seed dormancy.
- To simplify data processing, the primary stages should be identified with the di·
gits 0 to 9.
- In order to provide more detail, each primary stage should be subdivided into an
equal number of secondary growth stages.
We add to this:
- Codes should be equidistant on an ontogenetic time scale (in general accumu·
. \
lated heat uruts). ·
The best known and most widely used scale for the development of maize was de·
signed by Hanway (1966). The growth stages are based upon observations of hybrid
maize in the Midwest USA. The growth stages described by Hanway are easily rec·
ognizable in the field, but for use in West European conditions modification of the
stage description is necessary. The need for modification is caused by differences in
environmental conditions, and the use of different maize varieties: which result in
differences in leaf number, and the length of time between different developmental
stages (e.g. Bottrell, 1979; Brown, 1976; D~ncan et al., 1973; Larson & Hanway,
1976). Moreover, Hanway uses only 10 stages. In order to obtain more accuracy, it
is necessary to distinguish more stages. Schutte & Meier (1981) designed a code for
the growth stages of maize for the Federal Republic of Germany. The disadvantage
of this~scale is the fact that several·developmental stages can be referred to with dif·
ferent codes, instead of one code for each developmental stage.
Both the Hanway scale and the scale by Schutte & Meier do not meet the men·
tioned criteria, so a new scale has been developed.

Table 1. A decimal code for the developmental stages of maize. Primary stages and secondary stages.
Stages of Hanway and Schutte & Meierare given as far as stages are comparable.

Hanway (1966) Schutte & Meier (1981)

0 Germination
0.00 dry seed 01
0.25 imbibition of the seed 03
0.50 radide emerged from the seed OS
0. 75 Coleoptile emerged from the seed 07

68 Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 34 (1986)

 DECIMAL CODE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF MAIZE

Tab~e 1 (continued)

Hanway (1966) Schune& Meier (1981)

Emergence and seedling growth

1.00 Co~eoptile emerging from the soil 0 11
1.25 first leaf unfolded 17
1.50 2 leaves unfolded 0.5 19
1. 75 3 leaves unfolded 21

2 Stem elongation (I)

2.00 4 leaves unfolded 22
2.25 5 leaves unfolded 23
2.50 6leaves unfolded L5 24
2.75 7leaves unfolded 25

3 Stem elongation (2)

3.00 8leaves unfolded 2 26
3.25 9leaves unfolded 26
3.5010 leaves unfolded 2.5 26
3.7511leaves unfolded 26

4 Stem elongation (3)

4.00 12leaves unfolded 3 27,53,71
4.25 13 leaves unfolded 59,73
4.50 14leaves unfolded 3.5
4.7515 or more leaves unfolded

5 Flowering
5. 00 stan of pollen shedding ± 5 61
5.25 50% pollen shedding 65,75
5 .50 50% silking 67
5.75 end of flowering 77

6 Water ripe
6.00 caryopsis early water ripe, stan of silk drying 81
6.25-
6.50 medium water ripe
6. 75late water ripe

7 Milkripe
7.00 earfy milk ripe, silks completely dry ± 6 82
7.25 first dents become visible
7.50 half milk ripe, milk line halfway kernel
7. 75 late milk ripe

8 Dry ripe
8.00 early dry ripe, physiological maturity, silage·harvest
8.25-
8.50 medium dry
8. 75late dry

9 Ripeness
9. 00 hard ripe 10 85
9.25-
9.50-
9.75 end of seed dormancy

Netherlands Journal of Agriculrural Science 34 (]986) 69

J. J. R. GROOTET AL.

Primary stages
Table 1 shows the growth stages of maize. The primary stages are coded with the
digits 0-9. Developmental stage (DC) 0 represents the period of germination of the
seed in the soil, stage 1 represents the coleoptile emergence from the soil and the
seedling growth. The period of stem elongation is subdivided into 3 primary stages.
Stage 2- stem elongation (1): during this stage the internodes below the fifth,
sixth and seventh leaves have begun to elongate.
Stage 3 - stem elongation (2): during this period the stem is elongating rapidly,
the internodes below the fifth and sixth leaves are fully elongated.
Stage 4- stem elongation (3): the stem is still elongating, but the most characte-
ristic features are the eD:lergence of the tassel from the whorl and the rapid increase
in size of the ear.
Stage 5 represents the period of flowering.
The caryopsis development is divided into four stages: stage 6- water ripe; stage

[)eo.oelop....ent code

8
.,..
.,. ...

..
5
..
....
.• .•. •
.. ... .
2
. .. ...
.,.
... -
....

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 BOO

Accumulated temperature fCd)

Fig.. 1. Relationship between developmental codes and accumulated temperatures as observed for maize
cv. LG11 in the years 1982 (x) and 1983 (o). Daily average air temperatures were accumuiated with a
base temperature of 10 oc.

70 Nerherloruis Journal of Agricuirural Science 34 (1986)

 DECIMAL CODE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF MAIZE
o<i:~'

7- milk ripe; stage 8- dry ripe, -and stage 9- ripeness. During the water ripe stage,
the whole kernel content is still in the liquid phase. During the milk ripe stage there
is a milk-to-solid conversion of the endosperm. The liquid content of the kernel has
a milky structure during this stage. At the dry ripe stage, kernel milk is no longer
present, and the kernels have reached physiological maturity. Kernels will continue
to loose moisture until stage 9, ripeness, is reached. The term dough ripe, which is
common in the description of developmental stages in cereals (Feekes, 1941; Za-
doks et al., 1974) and which is also used in stage description of maize (Hanway,
1966; Schutte & Meier, 1981) is not used in the stage description. During the kernel
solidification, the milk disappears gradually and solid kernel material is formed.
The doughly structure fo~nd in caryopsis development of most cereals does not oc-
cur during maize development. At the end of stage 9, physiological maturity is
reached.

Secondary stages
Each primary growth stage is subdivided into four secondary growth stages to o,b-
tain a more detailed description (Table 1). Secondary stages before silking are
mainly classified to the number of fully emerged leaves (leaves with the collar visi-
ble). When during stage 4 the final number of leaves that have been unfolded is 15
or less and the tassel has been fully emerged, stages are continued at stage 5.00.
Growth stages after silking are identified by the development of the .kernels on the
ear. Some extra attention should be paid to stages used in estimating maturity. Af-
ter the first dents have become visible during the milk ripe stage, the half milk ripe
stage is reached. This stage is easily recognizable by breaking an ear in half and
inspecting the smooth endosperm side on the top half of the ear. On this side of the
kernels a line can be seen, which marks the boundary between the solid a~d liquia
phase of the endosperm. When this line is positioned halfway down the kernel, the
stage is half milk ripe. This stage is considered to be useful in predicting harvest
time (Crookston et al., 1982).
Stage 8, physiological maturity, is often found to coincide with black layer forma-
tion in the placental region of the kernels (Daynard & Duncan, 1969; Daynard,
1972). However, the black layer is not always detectable (Crookston et al., 1982).
Therefore it is imponant to look for both the black layer and milk line appearance
in estimating physiological maturity. For information about the moisture content of
the kernels at the different developmental stages we refer to Crookston et al.
(1982). .

Development and accumulated temperature

It is generally agreed that developmental rate of maize is a function of temperature

and that periods between stages of development are better characterized by accu·
mulated temperature than by number of calendar days (Bunting, 1976; Cross &
Zuber, 1972: Bloc & Gouet~ 1979). ,
Several methods of defining effective temperature for maize development have
been proposed in the literature. The methods differ in their assumptions about the
Nerheriand.s Journol of Agricultural Science 34 (1986) 71
J. J. R. GROOTET AL.

relation between developmental rate and daily maximum and minimum tempera-
ture and in their assumptions about the base temperature for development. Howev-
er, the methods hardly differ in ability to predict the duration of the major devel-
opmental periods (from seedling emergence to flowering and from flowering to ripe
grain) (e.g. Cross & Zuber, 1972; Bloc & Gouet, 1979; Bunting, 1976). Therefore,
the simplest and most wide-spread method of defining effective daily temperature
was applied.
In this method a base temperature is subtracted from the daily mean, and nega-
tive values are discarded (Bunting~ 1976). The calculation of accumulated tempera-
ture starts at plant emergence.

where Tetr represents effective daily temperature, Tmin is daily minimum tempera-
ture, Tmax is daily maximum temperature and Tb is the base temperature. As base
temperature 10 oc is used. Air temperatures measured at 1.50 m height were used.
This method was checked for Dutch conditions with a data set supplied by 0.
Dolstra (Foundation for Agricultural Plant Breeding (SVP), Wageningen).
Maize cv. LG 11 was sown at an early and a normal time in each of six successive
years at the ·same site and dates of seedling emergence and silking were recorded.
Over sowing times and over years the coefficient of variation (CV = olf.J-) fot the
period from emergence to 50 o/o silking was 35/375 = 0.09 when measured in accu-
mulated temperature and 9.7n5 = 0.13 when measured in calendar days. For seven
other field experiments with maize cv. LG11 (data from Struik, 1983; Struik & Dei-
nurn, 1982; and own observations), the advantage ot accumulated temperatures
over calendar days was greater: CV was 10.9/417 = 0.026 for accumulated temper-
atures and l0.6nO = 0.15 for calendar days. In these latter experiments~ the period
from seedling emergen.ce to anthesis (DC5) was considered and five years were
represented. Dates of emergence varied greatly among experiments.
Development of maize cv. LG11 was followed in time in terms of the scale pre-
sented in Table 1 in field experiments carried out in Wageningen in 1982 and 1983. ·
All stages described were easily recognizable in the field. Fig. 1 defines in a broad
way how the presented developmental codes are related to the ontogenetic age, ex-
pressed in accumulated temperatures.

Conclusions and discussion

The phenological scale for the developmental stages for maize has been used suc-
cessfully in the field. All stages described were easily recognizable.
In describing the progression in development, there is an advantage of using ac-
cumulated temperature over calendar days. A substantial part of the variation in
developmental rate may. however. still remain unexplained. Development pro-
ceeded very synchronously in the 2 years. The relation between developmental
code and accumulated temperature can be partitioned into an approximately linear
relation for the period from seedling emergence (DC1) to the last stage of stern
72 Netherlands ~ournal of Agricuirural Science 34 (1986)
 DECIMAL CODE FOR DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF MAIZE

elongation (DC4) and approximately linear relation for the period from water ripe
(DC6) to hard ripe (DC9) with a discontinuity around flowering (DCS) (Fig. 1).

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to Mr 0. Dolstra for kindly offering data on maize devel-
opment over six years.

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NetherwruJ.s Journal of Agricultural Science 34 (}986) 73