Evaluating hail storm damage to corn productivity

Abstract

In Romania, more than half of hail storm are in the period from May to July. They are responsible for small losses of productions they occur in the early stages of vegetation. Significant losses occur when hail storm occur during flowering-silking period. James V. Vorst appreciates that monetary losses caused by hail storm reach $ 52 million annually in the USA. Starting from this consideration, but also in terms of attracting attention on providing corn crops, in the spring of 2015 we established a two-way experience, in Lovrin, Timisoara. The first experimental factor, corn cultivar has been represented by 18 maize hybrids of FAO 350-550 maturity groups. The second factor was the degree of defoliation on plants corn produced artificially in various stages of vegetation. Results indicate losses of up to 5% when maize has six leaves, 1-10% when corn has 10 leaves, of 9-62% during flowering-silking and 6-41% when milk line was distinguishable.