Effect of irrigation amounts applied with subsurface drip irrigation on corn evapotranspiration, yield, water use efficiency, and dry matter production in a semiarid climate

• Published in: Agricultural water management Vol. 95; no. 8; pp. 895 - 908
• Main Authors: Payero, José O., Tarkalson, David D., Irmak, Suat, Davison, Don, Petersen, James L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.08.2008; Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Series: Agricultural Water Management
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Corn; crop yield; Deficit irrigation; Dry matter; dry matter accumulation; evapotranspiration; Evapotranspiration (ET); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Harvest index; irrigation management; Irrigation. Drainage; Maize; microirrigation; seasons; semiarid zones; soil water balance; soil water content; Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI); subsurface irrigation; Water stress; Water use efficiency; Yield response factor (ky); Zea mays; Nebraska; Great Plains of America; United States; North America; America; USA, Nebraska; Harvest index; Yield response factor (ky); Deficit irrigation; Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI); Evapotranspiration (ET); Corn; Dry matter; Maize; Water use efficiency; Water stress; Monocotyledones; Water deficit; Cereal crop; Climatic condition; Subsurface irrigation; Irrigation rate; Gramineae; Water regime; Angiospermae; Evapotranspiration; Water engineering; Production factor; Response modality; Plant production; Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI);Corn;Maize;Deficit irrigation;Water stress;Water use efficiency;Evapotranspiration (ET);Harvest index;Dry matter;Yield response factor (ky); Irrigation management; Zea mays; Supplemental irrigation; Agroclimatology; Trickle irrigation; Semi arid climate; Agrometeorology; Spermatophyta; Yield
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2008.02.015

Quantifying the local crop response to irrigation is important for establishing adequate irrigation management strategies. This study evaluated the effect of irrigation applied with subsurface drip irrigation on field corn ( Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration (ETc), yield, water use efficiencies (WUE = yield/ETc, and IWUE = yield/irrigation), and dry matter production in the semiarid climate of west central Nebraska. Eight treatments were imposed with irrigation amounts ranging from 53 to 356 mm in 2005 and from 22 to 226 mm in 2006. A soil water balance approach (based on FAO-56) was used to estimate daily soil water and ETc. Treatments resulted in seasonal ETc of 580–663 mm and 466–656 mm in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Yields among treatments differed by as much as 22% in 2005 and 52% in 2006. In both seasons, irrigation significantly affected yields, which increased with irrigation up to a point where irrigation became excessive. Distinct relationships were obtained each season. Yields increased linearly with seasonal ETc ( R 2 = 0.89) and ETc/ETp ( R 2 = 0.87) (ETp = ETc with no water stress). The yield response factor (ky), which indicates the relative reduction in yield to relative reduction in ETc, averaged 1.58 over the two seasons. WUE increased non-linearly with seasonal ETc and with yield. WUE was more sensitive to irrigation during the drier 2006 season, compared with 2005. Both seasons, IWUE decreased sharply with irrigation. Irrigation significantly affected dry matter production and partitioning into the different plant components (grain, cob, and stover). On average, the grain accounted for the majority of the above-ground plant dry mass (≈59%), followed by the stover (≈33%) and the cob (≈8%). The dry mass of the plant and that of each plant component tended to increase with seasonal ETc. The good relationships obtained in the study between crop performance indicators and seasonal ETc demonstrate that accurate estimates of ETc on a daily and seasonal basis can be valuable for making tactical in-season irrigation management decisions and for strategic irrigation planning and management.