MAXIMIZING WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF MAIZE
CROP IN SANDY SOILS
[33]
Field experiment was conducted in private farm, El-Bustan region, Beheira Governorate for three seasons (1998,1999 and 2000) to investigate presurized irrigated maize crop management (Single cross 10).Drip and sprinkler irrigation systems were selected. Three water application rates (50,75 and 100% of ETc) and two irrigation intervals (daily irrigation and irrigation every three days) were tested in this experiment. The results of this study can be summarized as follow:
1- Actual water consumptive use and seasonal irrigation water requirements were lower by (13.7% and 22.6%) than calculated values using the climatic data under both sprinkler and drip irrigation system.
2- The highest grain yield (4.24 Mgram/fed) was produced under drip irrigation system compared to sprinkler irrigation system (3.36 Mgram/fed).
3- The best maize yield was when 100% of ETc was applied under both drip and sprinkler irrigation systems compared with 50 and 75% of ETc treatments
4- Daily irrigation gave the highest yield of maize compared to irrigation every three days.
5- The lowest cost of maize production unit was (64.6LE/Mgram) under drip irrigation system when 100% of ETc daily was applied, while the highest cost was 308.8LE/ton under sprinkler irrigation system when 50% of ETc every three days was applied.
6- Water production functions of maize crop under both drip and sprinkler irrigation were:
For sprinkler irrigation system
Daily irrigation Y= 2x10-7X2 - 2x10-5X +0.38
Irrigation every 3rd day Y= 2x10-7X2 - 4x10-4X +0.66
For drip irrigation system
Daily irrigation Y= 6x10-7X2 - 0.0012X +2.26
Irrigation every 3rd day Y= 7x10-8X2 - 0.0007X +0.33