PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MAIZE CROP UNDER DIFFERENT IRRIGATION REGIMES AND SPACING

M. NAGARAJAN¹, S. PORPAVAI², G. THIYAGARAJAN³*, M. MANIKANDAN^4
1Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur, 621 712, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
²Professor and Head, Soil and Water Management Research Institute, Thanjavur, 613 501, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
³Water Technology Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
⁴Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur, 621 712, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : thiyagu@tnau.ac.in

Received : 31-05-2019     Accepted : 12-06-2019     Published : 15-06-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 11       Pages : 8572 - 8574
Int J Agr Sci 11.11 (2019):8572-8574

Keywords : Maize, IW/CPE, Spacing, Pan Evaporation
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Soil and Water Management Research Institute, Thanjavur, 613 501, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop of India and plays pivotal role in agricultural economy both as staple food for larger section of population, raw materials for industries and feed for animals. In India the need of maize is very much rising in every year which when it’s compared with production. One of the reasons often attributed to decline in maize productivity is poor production practices, awareness and characterized by low use of modern inputs. In order to avoid the lack of all the above to assess the current levels of technical efficiency of maize cultivation like spacing of Maize cultivation with effective management of irrigation practices could be taken as a study. The experiment was conducted in Summer 2015 through IW/CPE ratio with three different spacing. The irrigation was scheduled at 1.0, 0.8 & 0.6 IW/CPE (Irrigation Water / Cumulative Pan Evaporation) ratio were practiced for irrigation and three plant spacing were adopted viz., 40 x 40 cm, 30 x 30 cm & 60 x 25 cm for the study. The maize seed was sown with the spacing of 40 x 40 cm, 30 x 30 cm & 60 x 25 cm on the ridges of furrows. The irrigation intervals were decided on the basis of daily pan evaporation data which would met with the ratios of 1.0, 0.8 & 0.6. Hence, the irrigation of the field can vary from 5 – 10 days depending on a number of factors such as soil type, weather and crop growth stage. Fertilizes was uniformly applied to all the treatments as per 100 % RDF. The highest grain yield (7431 kg/ha) and maximum WUE (14.09 kg/ha-mm) was obtained with irrigation at IW/CPE 0.8 in 60 x 25 cm spacing which consumed 400 mm of irrigation water in 8 irrigations. This was followed by IW/CPE 0.8 in 30 x 30cm spacing with the WUE of 13.66 kg/ha mm which also consumed 400 mm in 8 irrigations. The lowest grain yield was recorded with irrigation at IW/CPE ratio of 0.6 in 40 x 40 cm spacing with the WUE of 11.55 kg/ha mm which consumed 350 mm of irrigation water in 7 numbers of irrigations.

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