The objective of this study was to determine the probability of dry and rainy occurrence periods in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, from a historical series of 66-year-long daily rainfall data to establish the best sowing date for corn crop. Dry days were considered as those that had precipitation below corn evapotranspiration, ETcorn. This study was carried out for the stages of flowering and grain filling, starting from seven sowing times ST (10/01, 10/16, 10/31, 11/15, 12/01, 12/16 e 12/31). The probabilities of occurring dry and rainy spells were estimated by the Markov´s chain. The probability of occurring dry days was always higher than rainy days. The highest probability of dry days were found between ST 15/11 and DS 31/12. The highest probability of occurring rainy days was recorded at ST 01/10. Considering the studied average cycle (for the most critical stage of corn development), the combination of the lowest probability of dry spells with the highest probability of rainy days indicates that the best dates to initiate non-irrigated sowing should be ST 01/10 and 16/10.
Markov´s chain; non-irrigated corn; water deficit
