Soil–plant water status and yield of sweet corn ( Zea mays L. cv. Saccharata) as influenced by drip irrigation and planting methods

• Published in: Agricultural water management Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 85 - 91
• Main Authors: Viswanatha, G.B, Ramachandrappa, B.K, Nanjappa, H.V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 14-06-2002; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Series: Agricultural Water Management
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Available soil moisture; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Green cob; Irrigation. Drainage; Relative water content; Sweet corn; Water requirement; Water use efficiency; Asia; Karnataka; India; Water requirement; Available soil moisture; Water use efficiency; Green cob; Relative water content; Sweet corn; Monocotyledones; Soil moisture; Zea mays var. saccharata; Planting density; Row arrangement; Field experiment; Soils; Spatial distribution; Vegetable crop; Gramineae; Water regime; Angiospermae; Trickle irrigation; Spermatophyta; Yield; Soil plant relation; Sandy loam soil
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-3774(01)00189-5

A field experiment was conducted during summer season of 1998 at the Main Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Hebbal, Bangalore. Experiment consisted of four irrigation levels and two methods of planting. Drip irrigation at 0.8
Epan with normal planting recorded significantly higher green cob (20.07
t
ha
−1) and fodder yield (24.87
t
ha
−1) compared to either drip at 0.6
Epan or weekly surface irrigation at 0.8
Epan, while drip at 0.4
Epan under paired planting (10.53 and 15.23
t
ha
−1, respectively registered the lowest. Drip at 0.4
Epan with normal planting recorded higher WUE of green cob and fodder (48.21 and 61.22
kg
ha
mm
−1) with total water requirement of 330.46
mm. With increase in water use (drip at 0.6
Epan, drip/surface irrigation at 0.8
Epan) the water use efficiency decreased. Drip irrigation at 0.8
Epan resulted in higher leaf water potential (−4, −7, −8
bars) at 20, 40 and 60 DAS before irrigation. Consequently, the RWC in the leaf was 81.10% and the available soil moisture ranged from 55.62 to 61.91%.