Md. Abdul Kader
CRP: Hill Agriculture, Hill Agricultural Research Station, Khagrachari Hill District, Bangladesh.
Md. Golam Rahman
Hill Agricultural Research Station, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Khagrachari, Bangladesh.
Razvi Samad Rakib
CRP: Hill Agriculture, Hill Cotton Research Station, Bandarban Hill District, Bangladesh.
Irrigation, Water productivity, Yield, Maize, Bangladesh
Bangladesh Agricultural University at Mymensingh.
Crop-Soil-Water Management
Water management, Maize
The experimental site was located at the farm near the office of the Chief Farm Superintendent (CFS) of the Bangladesh Agricultural University at Mymensingh. The rainfall and evaporation data for the study area were collected from the weather station at the BAU farm. The experiment consisted of five irrigation treatments. Irrigation was scheduled based on the ratio of irrigation water applied (IW) to the cumulative pan evaporation (CPE). The irrigation treatments were: I0: no irrigation (control), I1: IW/CPE = 0.4, I2: IW/CPE = 0.6, I3: IW/CPE = 0.8, and I4: IW/CPE = 1.0. In all treatments, irrigation was given at 43, 63 and 83 DAS. The timing of irrigation was selected based on the physiological development stages of maize. The 43 (vegetative stage), 63 (silking stage) and 83 (tasselling stage) DAS were designated as the stage when a maize plant contained 3−5, 8−10 and 20−22 leaves on average, respectively. The variety of the maize was BARI hybrid maize 5 (BHM−5). The land of the experimental field was opened on 15 December 2011 with a tractor and subsequently prepared thoroughly by ploughing and laddering. Weeds, stubble, and crop residues were collected and removed from the field. The field was laid out on 20 December 2011 following a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). It was divided into 3 blocks to represent three replications of the treatments. The spacing between the adjacent blocks was 1.5m. Each block was divided into five equal plots having a 1.50 m buffer between them in a block. The recommended doses of urea, triple Superphosphate, muriate of potash, gypsum, and zinc sulphate at the rate of 540, 240, 240, 15 and 5 kg/ha, respectively were applied. One-third of urea and the entire doses of the other fertilizers were applied at the time of final land preparation. The rest two-third of urea was top-dressed in two equal splits at 50 and 83 DAS. For sowing the seeds, 5−6 cm deep furrows were made by using single tine hand rakes at a spacing of 75 cm. The seeds were sown on 1 January 2012 at a depth of 5 to 6 cm, and 2 seeds were dropped per hill. The seed to seed distance was 25 cm. Irrigation was applied based on the IW/CPE ratios of 0, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0. The amount of water applied in different treatments in each irrigation was quantified based on pan evaporation and rainfall. At full maturity, the maize was harvested on 10 May 2012. A 3-m2 area containing 16 plants was selected at the middle of each plot for harvesting. These plants were harvested to the ground level. The plants were bundled and tagged separately for each plot. The data was collected from sample plants are plant height, number of cobs per plant, cob length, cob perimeter, number of row of grains per cob, number of grains per cob, grain yield, straw yield, and hundred (100)-grain weight. Harvest index (HI) is the ratio between grain yield and biological/biomass yield. The biological yield is the sum of the grain and straw yields. The HI is expressed as Harvest Index (HI) = Grain yield/Biological yield ×100. The water use of a crop field is generally described in terms of field water use efficiency (FWUE), which is the ratio of the crop yield to the total amount of water used in the field during the entire growing period of the crop. The FWUE demonstrates the productivity of water in producing crop yield. FWUE for maize was calculated by: FWUE=Y/WU; Where, FWUE = field water use efficiency, kg/ha/cm, Y = grain yield, kg/ha, WU = seasonal water use in the crop field, cm. The WU was calculated by summing up the water applied in irrigation (taking into account the rainfall) and soil moisture contribution. The soil moisture contribution was determined by subtracting the soil moisture at harvest from that at sowing. The collected data were analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique with MSTAT statistical package.
International Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2016, 3(4): 14-19
Journal