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Effect of Alternate Wetting and Drying Furrow Irrigation the Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Maize

K. K. SARKER
SO
IWM Divisio, BARI

A. R. AKANDA
CSO
IWM Division BARI

S.K. BISWAS
SSO
IWM Division BARI

M. N. ISLAM,
CSO
Physiology Division, BARI

M. F. BAZZAZ
SSO
ARS, BARI, Dinajpur

A. K. ROY
SO
Soil Science Division, BARI, Gazipur

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Efficient irrigation method was essential in the areas where water resources were limited for irrigation. Therefore, a new method of irrigation was used to investigate the effect of alternate furrow irrigation on crop performances, seasonal water use (SWU) and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize. The field experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design in a spilt plot design with nine treatments replicated thrice. The treatments were accommodated by three irrigation levels (I₁, I₂ and I₃: Irrigation water applied to 100%, 80% and 60% field capacity, respectively) and three methods (M₁, M₂ and M₃: Alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation(AWDFI), Fixed wetting and drying furrow irrigation (FWDFI) and Traditional furrow irrigation(TFI), respectively). Results showed that AWDFI could maintain approximately similar grain yield compared to TFI with almost 50% reduction in irrigation water when irrigated to 100% FC. The interactive effect of irrigation levels and methods had significant effect on crop growth rate (CGR) in the crop biomass and grain yield among the treatments while the same level of irrigation produced insignificant difference between the alternate furrow irrigation (M₁) and traditional furrow irrigation (M₃) methods. But significantly better CGR and grain yield compared to the fixed furrow irrigation (M₂) method were obtained. AWDFI and TFI produced around 7.8 and 7.9 t/ha in Gazipur and 9.5 and 9.9 t/ha in Dinajpur, respectively, when irrigation water was applied to 100% field capacity. AWDFI saved 39, 35 and 33% SWU at Gazipur and 27, 24 and 19 % SWU at Dinajpur compared to TFI when irrigation water was applied to 100, 80 and 60% FC, respectively. WUE was substantially improved by AWDFI. WUE was higher around 38, 34 and 31% in Gazipur and 23, 22 and 19% in Dinajpur in AWDFI system than TFI when irrigating with 100, 80 and 60 % FC. However, alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation is an effective and water-saving irrigation technique which improves water use efficiency without insignificant yield reduction and may have the potential to be used in drought fields where maize production is heavily dependent on irrigation. AWDFI indicates that one of the neighboring furrows was alternately irrigated during consecutive watering irrigation water was applied only one side of the root system for wetting the root with each irrigation while the other side of the root kept for drying. FWDFI means that it was fixed to one furrow of the neighboring two furrows from first irrigation to last irrigation. TFI indicates that traditional furrow irrigation was the traditional way where all furrows were irrigated for each irrigation. It means that irrigation water was applied on both sides of the root system for each irrigation. Irrigation water was applied at different growth stages of maize according to the soil moisture content measurements.

Keywords: Irrigation, Maize, Alternate wetting and drying

Location: BARI, Gazipur and ARS, Dinajpur

Start Date: 00-00-2014

End Date: 00-00-2015

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Maize, Irrigation scheduling

Objectives:

The specific objectives of this study were as: (i) to assess the crop performances and (ii) to evaluate the seasonal water use and water use efficiency.

Methodology:

The field experiments were conducted at the research field of IWM Division, BARI, Gazipur and ARS, Dinajpur during the Rabi 2014-2015. The soil were silt loam an average field capacity (FC) of 28% and mean bulk density was 1.5 g/cc at the research field of IWM, Gazipur and clay loam an average FC of 30% and mean bulk density was 1.44 g/cc at the research field of ARS, Dinajpurr. Total effective rainfall received the maize crop growing season (2014-2015) was 15.6 cm with 2 effective rainy months non-uniformly distributed over March and April (up to harvesting date: 26.4.2015) in Gazipur and 18 cm with 5 effective rainy months uniformly distributed over January, February, March, April and May (up to harvesting date: 19.5.2015) in Dinajpur. Before maize sowing, soil samples were randomly collected from the desired depth of the experimental plots. The percentage of organic matter (OM), p^H, total nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), sulpher (S), zinc (Zn) and Boron (B) were determined in the Soil Science Laboratory, BARI, Gazipur and Regional Soil Test Laboratory, SRDI, Dinajpur. The field experimental plan yielded nine treatments (3 × 3) by randomized complete block in a spilt plot design replicated thrice, totally twenty seven plots. The layout of split plot design was involved three irrigation (IR) methods (M₁, M₂ and M₃) as subplot treatment and three IR levels (I₁, I₂ and I₃) as main plot treatment in three replications. Data were statically analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) using R-Foundation for Statistical Computing Platform (R version 3.1.2: 2014-10-13). All the treatment means compared for any significant differences using statistical models to 5% probability level of significant (P≤0.05).

The irrigation treatments were as follows:

Three irrigation levels (main plot treatment)

I₁:Irrigation water applied to 100% FC
I₂:Irrigation water applied to 80% FC
I₃:Irrigation water applied to 60% FC

Three irrigation methods (subplot treatment)

M₁: Alternate wetting and drying furrow irrigation (AWDFI)
M₂: Fixed wetting and drying furrow irrigation (FWDFI)
M₃: Traditional furrow irrigation (TFI)

Source of Information: Annual Research Report, IWM Division BARI--2014-15

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1.

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

It was suggests that alternate wetting productivity and drying furrow irrigation (AWDFI) has the potential to improve both yield and water. AWDFI and traditional furrow irrigation (TFI) with irrigation to 100% field capacity produced maize yield around 7.8 and 7.9 t/ha in Gazipur and 9.5 and 9.9 t/ha in Dinajpur, respectively. Compared to the TFI, AWDFI technique saved seasonal irrigation water use by 27 % and 39 % and reduced total grain yield by around 4 and 1% when irrigated to 100% field capacity in Dinajpur and Gazipur, respectively. However, alternate furrow irrigation may be used in practice by alternately irrigating one part of the root zone of the plant each time and may improve water productivity of maize crop production without significant yield reduction.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings