Water Use and Yield of Wheat under Unmulched and Mulched Conditions in Laterite Soil of the Indian Sub‐continent

Abstract

AbstractA held experiment was conducted during three winter seasons on West Bengal laterite soil to study the effect of irrigation and paddy straw mulch on water consumption. Water use efficiency and yield of wheat are reported. Both irrigation and mulch increased wheat yield significantly; there was also significant interaction between irrigation and straw mulch application: three irrigations combined with mulch resulted in 21.6 q ha‐1 wheat grain yield compared with 17.5 q ha‐1 for three irrigations without mulch. Mulch consistently increased irrigation response. Both irrigation and mulch increased water consumption and water use efficiency of the wheat crop. To compare the two irrigation treatments, irrigation at crown root initiation followed up by at flowering stage gave higher values of water use efficiency as well as higher grain yield than that of irrigation applied at panicle stage followed by at crown root initiation.