Abstract
Due to the serious water shortages the saving of irrigation water is very important, particularly in countries with limited water like as Egypt. A field experiment was conduct during the summer season of 2012 at El-Karada Water Research Station, Water Management and Irrigation Systems Research Institute, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt. This research aims to study the effect of new method of mulching on water saving and yield of maize. Four treatments were tested : no mulch (control) (A); straw mulch (B); 30 % plastic mulch (C), and 60 % plastic mulch (D). Mulching was performed with 30 and 60 % furrows preimeter, along 50 % furrows length. Applied irrigation water (AIW), water advance time (WAT), soil moisture content (SMC), water use efficiency (WUE), application water efficiency (Ea), ground water level (GWL), and grain yield (GY) were computed. Results showed that both treatments D and C decreased AIW about of 24.65 % and 21.65 %, while straw mulch treatment increased AIW about of 3.37 % compared with control treatment. Both treatments of C and D reduced (WAT) with 20.9 and 21.3 %, while treament of B increased it with 19.1 % compared with control treatment. Plastic mulch had siginficantly effect on SMC which the minimum values were recorded under treatments of D and C, respectively. On the other hand, highest values of SMC were obtained under straw mulch treatment. It was observed that WUE had the highest value under treatments C and D, respectively. While, the lowest value was obtained under straw mulch treatment. Application water efficiency invistegated the highest values under treatment of C and B, respectively. But, it had the lowest values under control treatment. Results of GWL indicated that the highest values were obtained under treatments D, A, B and C, respectively. Mulching affected grain yield non-significantly, but the highest grain production was observed in treatment of C (3034.2 Kg/fed.), and minimum in treatment of B (2401.1Kg/fed.). It was concluded that plastic mulch is the best method to save water under surface irrigation system.
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