Yield and Some Water Relation of Maize Crop as Influenced by Irrigation Scheduling and Nitrogen Fertilization Rates at Middle North Nile Delta

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted at Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt during the two successive seasons of 2007 and 2008. The objectives of this research were: (i) to study the effect of irrigation scheduling using three different pan evaporation coefficients on maize yield; (ii) to evaluate the growth, yield and N use efficiency of maize as affected by different rates of N fertilization. The treatments were arranged in a split plot design with four replicates. The main plots were assigned with three irrigation regimes I1, I2and I3 irrigated at 1.2 ,1.0 and 0.8 of accumulation of A.P.E. Five nitrogen rates i.e. zero,60, 90,120 and 150 kg N fed.-1 in the sub plots namely N1, N2, N3 , N4 and N5 . Results showed that 1.2 of A.P.E significantly increased grain yield by 5.4, 8.9% and straw yield by 5.7 , 11.3% compared to irrigation at 1.0, 0.8 of A.P.E. respectively. Also irrigation at 1.2 of A.P.E resulted in higher amount of irrigation water applied to be 3150 m 3 /fed distributed on 7 irrigations , followed by irrigation at 1.0 to be 2830 m 3 /fed distributed on 6 irrigations , and irrigation at 0.8 of A.P.E. was 2370 m 3 /fed distributed on 5 ones. The highest consumptive water used was obtained under irrigation with 1.2 pan evaporation coefficient i.e. 2386 m 3 .while the lowest 1998 m 3 obtained from irrigation at 0.8 of A.P.E.. Lower frequent irrigation due to irrigation at 0.8 of A.P.E. resulted in a significantly increased water productivity compared to the other two irrigation treatments it was 1.260, 1.903 and 1.957 kg/m 3 for I1, I2 and I3 respectively Increasing nitrogen rates up to 150 kg N fed.-1 (N5 ) significantly increased grain and straw yield by 69 , 50 ; 11.9 ,22.5 ; 4.7 , 4.7 % as compared to N1 ; N2 ; N3 treatments respectively but not significant with N4 Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) increased with decreasing water applied .It was 77.47 , 79.25 and 80.07 % for I1 , I2 , I3,respectively , and decreased with increasing N rate; 88.1 ,85.7 , 77.4 and 64.5 for N2 ; N3 ; N4 and N5 respectively. Therefore, to increase water productivity and to save irrigation water, it could be recommended to irrigate maize at 1.0 of A.P.E in middle north Nile Delta soils to save water of about 320 m 3

Irrigation Schedul With Different Nitrogen Sources and Levels for Maize Productivity and Some Water Relations

“…It is worthy to notice that, seasonal applied irrigation water did not respond to both nitrogen sources or levels. These results agree with those results obtained by El-Bably (2007), Eid et al (2010) and Zorkany (2014).…”

“…The higher grain and stover yields with increasing levels of irrigation might be due to the significant enhancement in yield components as mentioned before and also to the availability of water as an important factor in the plant growth. The reduction in maize yields resulted in decreasing the availability of soil moisture content (I 3 treatment) and could be attributed to water shortage (Eid et al, 2010). These results are similar to those obtained by Shinde et al (2014) and Ewis et al (2016).…”

“…It is obvious to notice that effect of the reduction of moisture content was more pronounced in the weight of grains than the other two yield component parameters. These reductions in yield component parameters may be due to water shortage that causes the close of the stomata and reduce all metabolism process within plant tissues (Eid et al, 2010). Also, Kuchenbuch et al (2006) and Sangakkara et al (2010) mentioned that, the lack of sufficient soil moisture affects growth and development of roots.…”

“…Egypt receives about 98 per cent of its fresh water from the Nile River originating outside its international border (Zorkany, 2014). The usefulness of evaporation pan to predict soil moisture deficit in field and to estimate the crop water requirement for weekly and long period is discussed in detail by Ashraf et al (2002), Khalil and Mohamed (2006) and Eid et al (2010). El bably (2007) stated that irrigation scheduling of maize at 1.2 of accumulation of pan evaporation significantly increased plant height, ear length, number of rows/ears, number of grains/rows, 100-grain weight and grain yield.…”

Towards Effective Irrigation Management for Cotton Crop Under Different Cultivation Methods in the North Middle Nile Delta Region.

“…Generally, the mean values for WP and PIW can be decreased in order I 3 > I 2 > I 1 > I 4 > I 0 for the two studied efficiencies, form this data, the irrigation scheduling treatments led to increasing WP and PIW efficiencies comparing with traditional irrigation which practice by local farmers in the studied area. These findings are in a great harmony with those obtained by Eid et al (2010), Swelam and Atta (2012) and Mona. S. M. Eid (2012).…”