Abstract
As the challenges toward increasing water for irrigation become more prevalent, knowledge of crop yield response to water can facilitate the development of irrigation strategies for improving agricultural productivity. Experiments were conducted to quantify maize yield response to soil moisture deficits, and assess the effects of deficit irrigation (DI) on water productivity (water and irrigation water use efficiency, WUE and IWUE). Five irrigation treatments were investigated: a full irrigation (I1) with a water application of 60 mm and four deficit treatments with application depths of 50 (I2), 40 (I3), 30 (I4), and 20 mm (I5). On average, the highest grain yield observed was 1008.41 g m−2 in I1, and water deficits resulted in significant (p < .05) reduction within range of 6 and 33%. This reduction was significantly correlated with a decline in grain number per ear, 1000-grain weight, ear number per plant, and number of grain per row. The highest correlation was found between grain yield and grain number per ear. The WUE and IWUE were within range of 1.52–2.25 kg m−3 and 1.64–4.53 kg m−3, respectively. High water productivity without significant reduction in yield (<13%) for I2 and I3 compared to the yield in I1 indicates that these water depths are viable practices to promote sustainable water development. Also, for assessing the benefits of irrigation practices in the region crop water production functions were established. Maize yield response to water stress was estimated as .92, suggesting the environmental conditions are conducive for implementing DI strategies.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important crops in the world, ranking third behind rice and wheat (WMO, 2012)
The soil water content (SWC) was close to field capacity (FC) during the 2014/2015 cropping season at the start of the experiment while it was lower in 2015/2016, and in both experiments SWC was greater in treatments receiving more irrigation water
The results indicate that to achieve maximum yield crop ET would need to be at-least 588 mm, and owing to seasonal rainfall variability supplementary irrigation should be applied to ensure at least 90% of the field capacity is attained
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important crops in the world, ranking third behind rice and wheat (WMO, 2012). Global production of maize has increased tremendously over the last few decades, and it is the most widely produced cereal crop with an overall production of approximately 1006.18 million tonnes (FAOAMIS, 2016). One possible reason for this decrease is the increase in rice production (Republic of China-Executive Yuan, 2016). Paddy rice production is approximately 1.73 million tonnes (2014 estimate) (Republic of China-Executive Yuan, 2016). With the dire need to improve Taiwan’s overall food security and food self-sufficiency, the production of maize is being promoted (Perng, 2013). Water for irrigation would play a pivotal role in increasing the production given that maize crop typically has high water requirements and lack of rainfall is a characteristic feature of one of the main cropping seasons. A water intensive rice industry (Greaves & Wang, 2016), increasing industrial and commercial development (Cheng & Liao, 2011), and the dire implications of climate change for the island (Chang, 2002; Wu et al, 2013) are some of the challenges that would influence the water available
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