I have received a number of calls regarding the premature death of corn beginning at the top with leaves dying near the top of the corn plant as well as leaf death near the base of the plant while green leaves are still evident in the middle of the stalk near the ear.

Perhaps this explanation by KING CORN ( Dr. Bob Nielsen) from Purdue during the drought of 1999 will lend some explanation of what is occurring in some areas this year!!

Tex Young
Eastern Region Sales Agronomist
Great Lakes Hybrids

Top Leaf Death in Corn
by R.L. (Bob) Nielsen

Corn senescence (death of the plant) occurs naturally near the end of grain fill as plant metabolism slowly deteriorates. Leaf senescence in corn fields throughout Indiana has occurred rapidly during the last three to four weeks, partly in response to the cumulative stress of drought or near-drought conditions in 1999.
The pattern of leaf senescence in many fields has been unusual in that the upper leaves have died as rapidly as the lower leaves, leaving green leaves only in the center part of the plants near the maturing ears. In the Midwest, this pattern of upper leaf senescence is typically blamed on anthracnose, European corn borer injury, or a combination of heat and drought stress.

In fact, the pattern of upper and lower leaf senescence may not be that unusual in a physiological sense. Research in Ontario, Canada in the late 1970’s (Tollenaar & Daynard, 1978, Leaf Senescence in Short-Season Maize Hybrids, Can. J. Plant Sci. 58: 869-874) documented this same pattern of senescence among ten adapted dent corn hybrids. Furthermore, a faster rate of leaf senescence during one of the years of the study was attributed to a warmer, drier weather pattern during the grain fill period that accelerated the rate of grain filling (not unlike much of Indiana in 1999).

Conclusions?

All of the stresses mentioned above have likely contributed to the overall rapid shutdown of photosynthetic leaf area. The upper/lower leaf senescence pattern exhibited in many Indiana corn fields may seem unusual because it is normally not so graphic, but nonetheless may reflect a normal physiological pattern of corn plant maturation and senescence. Given the importance of leaf area duration to the grain fill period, the rapid leaf senescence evident in many Indiana corn fields in 1999 will likely shave additional bushels off an already limited yield.

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