M.S. Kahlon and Madhu Dhingra
Abstract
Irrigations methods significantly affect the crop as well as the water productivity. To investigate the effect of methods of irrigation under mulch conditions on water productivity and kharif maize (Zea maize L.) yield, a field experiment was conducted at Research Farm of Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Three irrigation methods tested include drip irrigation, furrow irrigation and flood irrigation under mulch and un-mulch conditions. Mulch was applied at the rate of 6 t ha-1. In all the treatments row to row spacing was 60 cm while plant to plant spacing was kept at 20 cm. The maximum plant height (2.6 m) was recorded in drip irrigation followed by furrow irrigation (2.4 m) and minimum under flood irrigated conditions, i.e. 2.1 m. Similarly, the maximum hundred maize grain weight (32.5 g) was recorded in drip irrigated maize followed by furrow irrigated (30.1 g) and least under flood irrigated maize (28.6 g). Crop productivity was also found to be significantly affected by mulching. The highest mean yield of 6.6 t/ha was recorded in drip irrigated plots with mulching while the minimum yield was recorded in floodirrigated maize, i.e. 5.9 t/ha under un-mulched conditions. The water productivity was observed to beincreased by 48% under drip irrigation with mulching over un-mulched flood irrigation. Maize cob size,cob weight, leaf area index and number of grain per cob were also found to be significantly influenced withmulching and irrigation methods. Bigger size cobs with more number of grains per cob were recorded under drip irrigated maize followed by furrow irrigated and the smallest under flood un-mulched irrigated conditions. The results revealed that for achieving maximum grain yield and water productivity of maize, the drip method of irrigation need to adopt along with mulching.