Effect of the irrigation frequency and quality on yield, growth and water productivity of maize crops

Abstract

A research study was conducted to examine the crop responses of maize under two irrigation systems, i.e. raised bed and high-efficiency irrigation system (HEIS; drip irrigation) systems, with three irrigation frequencies and three levels of irrigation water quality. The trial was carried out in a completely randomised design mode with triple replication of each treatment. The raised bed irrigation system demonstrated better performance in terms of crop parameters: plant height, biological yield and grain yield for the raised bed system were recorded as 1, 5 and 21%, respectively, higher than the drip irrigation system. Field measurements for the HEIS showed that the biological yield, grain yield and harvest index were quadratically correlated with the frequency of irrigation. Better results were obtained for plots irrigated every 2 or 6 days than for those irrigated every 4 days. Good-quality water raised plant biological yield by 12% and grain yield by 14.85%. The irrigation frequency had a clear-cut eff...