Abstract
The field experiments was carried out for three years (2015 to 2017) at the Research Farm, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana with maize variety PMH-1 sown on three dates (D1-Third week of May, D2-Second week of June and D3- First week of July) under two irrigation regimes (I1 = IW:CPE 1.0 and I2 IW:CPE 0.75) and mulch application (M1: straw mulch @ 5 tha-1 and M2: without mulch) in a split plot design.Results revealed that the early sown crop(third week of May) took higher number of days and heat units to attain various phenophases. Maize variety PMH-1 consumed maximum heat units of 1952oC days for maturity under early sown condition. The heat use efficiency was highest (3.04 kg ha-1oCday-1)for the crop sown during June. Among irrigation regimes, the HUE was higher (2.89 kg ha-1oC day-1) in IW: CPE = 0.75 level of irrigation ascompared to IW: CPE = 1.00 (2.81 kg ha-1oCday-1) and higher HUE was obtained with mulch application (M1) (2.92 kg ha-1oCday-1) as compared to without mulch (M2) (2.76 kg ha-1oCday-1). The sowing of maize crop during second week of June with irrigation of IW: CPE 0.75 under mulch application have been found to be the most efficient for heat utilisation.
Highlights
The field experiments was carried out for three years (2015 to 2017) at the Research Farm, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana with maize variety PMH-1 sown on three dates (D 1-Third week of May, D 2-Second week of June and D 3First week of July) under two irrigation regimes (I1 = IW :CPE 1.0 and I2 IW :CPE 0.75) and mulch application (M 1: straw mulch @ 5 tha-1 and M 2: without mulch) in a split plot design.Results revealed that the early sown crop(third week of May) took higher number of days and heat units to attain various phenophases
Vol 21, No 1 namely emergence, 8 leaf stage, knee-high stage, tasselling, silking and physiological maturity were recorded through visual observations
The yellowing of cobs in around 90 per cent plants was taken as physiological maturity stage
Summary
The sowing of maize crop during second week of June with irrigation of IW : CPE 0.75 under mulch application have been found to be the most efficient for heat utilisation. Matching the phenology of the crop to the duration of favourable environmental conditions to avoid the periods of stress is crucial for maximum yield and resource use efficiency under changing climate. The spatial and temporal scale (Sreenivas et al, 2010).In view of this, the present investigation was made to evaluate the effect of different management options viz sowing time, mulch application and irrigation levels etc on heat utilisation efficiency of maize so that suitable adaptation measures can be explored to improve its heat use efficiency in view of changing climatic conditions. The knowledge on the growing degree days, heliothermal units (HTU), photothermal units (PTU) and heat use efficiency (HUE)
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