Regulation effects of diethyl aminoethyl hexanoate on the leaf photosynthetic characteristics, the grain sugar accumulation and the yield of sweet corn

The effects of diethyl aminoethyl hexanoate(DTA-6) on the photosynthesis, the grain weight, the photosynthetic key enzyme, the dynamic changes of sugar accumulation and the sucrose metabolism related enzyme activity in sweet corn(cv. Jinyutian 1) were investigated under field conditions. DTA-6 was foliar sprayed at the silking stage, and water spraying was carried out as the control experiment. The results showed that the chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate in the ear leaves were significantly improved by the DTA-6 treatment, and so did the activities of PEPC carboxylase and RuBP carboxylase. Moreover, DTA-6 markedly enhanced the activities of sucrose phosphorylase and sucrose synthase in grain, and the concentrations of soluble sugar, sucrose and starch in grains were increased by 8.4%, 8.8% and 8.9% compared with the control experiments, respectively. Therefore, the grain filling rate, the ear grain number and the grain weight were significantly improved by using DTA-6. The fresh ear yield, the ear grain number and the 1000-kernel weight were increased by 15.8%, 9.6% and 11.9%, respectively, compared with the control experiments. The results confirmed that DTA-6 could significantly improve the yield and quality of sweet corn, which provided a theoretical basis for the application of DTA-6 in the cultivation of sweet corn.