Effect of the Deficit Irrigation and Partial Root-Zone Drying on Water Consumption Use, Growth and Yield of Corn in Gypsiferous Soil

Abstract

Field experiment was carried out at the experimental station of soil and water resources department, college of Agriculture, Tikrit university. located at 34°40 49 and 43° 38 40 longitudes and 129m above sea level.to determine the consumptive use of Corn (zea mays L.) under different irrigation levels and deficit irrigation condition in a gypsifereous soil. The experiment was conducted with a split plot design. The main plots consist of three irrigation levels I1,I2 and I3(irrigation after 25, 50 and 75% after the available water depletion respectively). While sub plots consist of deficit irrigation treatment d0,d1, d2,d3,d3 and d4 (omitting two irrigations at (seedling , vegetative growth , flowering and grain maturity plant growth stages respectively. Corn seeds variety :Cadz were planted on 20/7/2013 for fall season and harvested at the end of growing season on 15/11/2013.Highst consumptive use value was 624.3mm for I1 d0 treatment. While the least consumptive use for I3 d3 was 554.2 mm .Maximum consumptive use was recorded at the vegetative growth stage of the treatment I1d0 212.7mm.