Purple Corn Leaves

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By Dairyland Seed Agronomy Team

Over the past week to ten days, we've received several calls about purple-colored corn leaves, like those shown in the photos below.

Purpling of corn leaves can be attributed to a few potential causes:

Phosphorus deficiency
Cooler soils
Soil compaction and/or seed furrow side wall compaction
Cooler cloudy days followed by warmer and more sunny days
Combination of these factors

The purpling of the leaves is actually an accumulation of sugars in the leaf tissue. Remember that corn leaves produce sugar by photosynthesis. If the corn plant is growing slowly, those sugars build up in the leaf tissue. This buildup of sugars causes a purplish pigment called anthocyanin to form. Anthocyanin tends to be produced in the surface layer of cells and does not affect the chlorophyll content in the leaf. (As a side note, I tend to think of leaves in the fall turning color especially red or sugar maples with Anthocyanin.) The corn plant is still alive and is actively growing in these instances and, with warmer temperatures and sunnier days, will continue to grow and green up.

I tend to see this purpling of leaves in headlands or areas of the fields that are cooler or wetter and/or wheel tracks. If large areas of the field have this symptomology, checking planting depth as well as root development on affected plants and comparing them to unaffected plants is suggested. Odds are, affected plants may have been planted in good, but not ideal, planting conditions. Another possibility is that the plant is low on phosphorus (P) which again can be a root or compaction issue. With that being said, P deficiencies tend to show plants with paler green or yellow stripping running in the purple areas.

If you have questions regarding this or other Agronomic topics, please feel free to contact your local Dairyland Seed Agronomist.