Maize Phenology: A Multi-Phase Approach for Understanding Climate Change Impacts

Thank you. Maize phenology is commonly categorized into two developmental stages: the vegetative and reproductive phases, in order to investigate various crop science issues (Zhang et al., 2021; Ciampitti and Vyn, 2011; Driedonks et al., 2016). However, some studies have further divided the crop cycle into three or even four phases to gain a better understanding of the relationship between climate change and crop yield (Rizzo et al., 2022; Butler et al., 2018; Butler and Huybers, 2015). For instance, Rizzo et al. (2022) delineated maize phenology into three development phases: (1) vegetative stage (from emergence to 15 days prior to silking), (2) flowering stage (approximately 15 days around silking), and (3) grain-filling stage (from 15 days post-silking to physiological maturity).