Meta-Analysis of Some Agronomic Factors Affected on Decreasing Forage Maize Yield in Iran

To identify the limiting factors in forage maize production in Iran, this study has been carried out in order to separate the effective and influential management factors in forage maize production in the country with data. It is obtained from 43 final reports or their derived extracted articles in Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) with meta-analysis method. According to the results, plant density (5.65%), drought stress (-13.44%), cultivar (0.31%), planting date (2.54%), and nitrogen fertilizer (24%) justify the amount of forage maize variation. Based on the results of this study, forage yield has increased by about 9.49%, increasing plant density between 80 to 100 thousand plants per hectare. Maize forage yield has decreased significantly under mild stress, severe stress, and very severe drought stress by 25.30%, 14.38% and 8.99%, respectively. Also, for different cultivars and different groups of maturity, group-700 has had a significant increase of 3.83% compared to other groups. For the planting dates of forage maize compared to the control, which is the first half of June, a decrease in forage yield is observed. Finally, the highest percentage of increase in maize forage yield has been obtained from the use of 450 kg ha-1 of urea fertilizer. Overall, nitrogen fertilizer, drought stress, and planting density are recognized as the most important factors affecting corn forage yield in Iran, respectively.