{"title":"Pre- and Post-anthesis Deficit Irrigation of Corn in the West Central Great Plains— Working with Less Water","authors":"A. Schlegel, F. Lamm, Y. Assefa","doi":"10.13031/aea.14838","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"HighlightsConcentrating deficit irrigation during the post-anthesis period optimized grain yield and water productivity, while minimizing the seasonal irrigation amount.Corn grain yields were not greatly affected by deficit irrigation strategy, but irrigation amounts varied as much as 62%.Seeding rates ranging from 62,000 to 74,000 corn plants per hectare were acceptable under deficit irrigation.Corn hybrid effects were not consistent across years and location.Abstract. A three-year study (2018 to 2020) was conducted in west central and northwestern Kansas on silt loam soils to determine corn grain yield and yield component response, water use, and crop water productivity as affected by irrigation capacity and timing, corn hybrid, and seeding rate. A range of four irrigation treatments concentrated greater application amounts in either the pre-anthesis or post-anthesis period. The Pre-38 treatment applied 38 mm weekly pre-anthesis as needed (limited by weather-based scheduling) and only applied 38 mm every two weeks during the post-anthesis period. The Pre-25 treatment applied 25 mm weekly as needed pre-anthesis, followed by 25 mm applications every two weeks post anthesis. Post-38 and Post-25 treatments had application amounts similar to Pre-38 and Pre-25, respectively, but had the weekly applications concentrated during the post anthesis period and less frequent (every two weeks) applications pre-anthesis. Two corn hybrids (Pioneer 1197 and Pioneer 0801) were planted at seeding rates of 62 and 74 thousand seeds ha-1. Averaged across location and year, the Pre-25 irrigation treatment had approximately 5% less yield than the other three treatments but received approximately 28% less irrigation. Overall, when averaged across all irrigation, hybrid and seeding rate treatments, the yield components of kernels ear-1 and kernel mass varied approximately 2% and 3%, respectively and were responsible for nearly all of the grain yield variation. The Pre-25 and Post-25 treatment had the greatest water productivity and generally had similar yields to the other deficit irrigation treatments and thus should be considered as effective strategies to reduce irrigation in this region. Seeding corn at 74 thousand seeds ha-1 increased yield only 2% compared with 62 thousand seeds ha-1 indicating that a considerable range of seeding rates produce similar yields when using deficit irrigation strategies in this region. Hybrid effects were not consistent across years and locations. Keywords: Crop water productivity, Evapotranspiration, Irrigation scheduling, Limited irrigation, Maize.","PeriodicalId":55501,"journal":{"name":"Applied Engineering in Agriculture","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Engineering in Agriculture","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.13031/aea.14838","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
HighlightsConcentrating deficit irrigation during the post-anthesis period optimized grain yield and water productivity, while minimizing the seasonal irrigation amount.Corn grain yields were not greatly affected by deficit irrigation strategy, but irrigation amounts varied as much as 62%.Seeding rates ranging from 62,000 to 74,000 corn plants per hectare were acceptable under deficit irrigation.Corn hybrid effects were not consistent across years and location.Abstract. A three-year study (2018 to 2020) was conducted in west central and northwestern Kansas on silt loam soils to determine corn grain yield and yield component response, water use, and crop water productivity as affected by irrigation capacity and timing, corn hybrid, and seeding rate. A range of four irrigation treatments concentrated greater application amounts in either the pre-anthesis or post-anthesis period. The Pre-38 treatment applied 38 mm weekly pre-anthesis as needed (limited by weather-based scheduling) and only applied 38 mm every two weeks during the post-anthesis period. The Pre-25 treatment applied 25 mm weekly as needed pre-anthesis, followed by 25 mm applications every two weeks post anthesis. Post-38 and Post-25 treatments had application amounts similar to Pre-38 and Pre-25, respectively, but had the weekly applications concentrated during the post anthesis period and less frequent (every two weeks) applications pre-anthesis. Two corn hybrids (Pioneer 1197 and Pioneer 0801) were planted at seeding rates of 62 and 74 thousand seeds ha-1. Averaged across location and year, the Pre-25 irrigation treatment had approximately 5% less yield than the other three treatments but received approximately 28% less irrigation. Overall, when averaged across all irrigation, hybrid and seeding rate treatments, the yield components of kernels ear-1 and kernel mass varied approximately 2% and 3%, respectively and were responsible for nearly all of the grain yield variation. The Pre-25 and Post-25 treatment had the greatest water productivity and generally had similar yields to the other deficit irrigation treatments and thus should be considered as effective strategies to reduce irrigation in this region. Seeding corn at 74 thousand seeds ha-1 increased yield only 2% compared with 62 thousand seeds ha-1 indicating that a considerable range of seeding rates produce similar yields when using deficit irrigation strategies in this region. Hybrid effects were not consistent across years and locations. Keywords: Crop water productivity, Evapotranspiration, Irrigation scheduling, Limited irrigation, Maize.
期刊介绍:
This peer-reviewed journal publishes applications of engineering and technology research that address agricultural, food, and biological systems problems. Submissions must include results of practical experiences, tests, or trials presented in a manner and style that will allow easy adaptation by others; results of reviews or studies of installations or applications with substantially new or significant information not readily available in other refereed publications; or a description of successful methods of techniques of education, outreach, or technology transfer.