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OPTIMIZING WATER AND
NITROGEN REQUIREMENT IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) UNDER SEMI ARID
CONDITIONS OF PAKISTAN
HAFIZ MOHKUM HAMMAD*, A. AHMAD, F.
AZHAR, T. KHALIQ, A. WAJID, W. NASIM, AND W. FARHAD
Abstract:
Water and nitrogen
are the most
important factors, play their role in better growth and yield of maize.
To find out
effective use of resources a field experiment was conducted to study the
effect of irrigation regimes and nitrogen rates on growth and yield of
maize hybrid at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture,
Faisalabad, during 2009. The experiment was laid out in Randomized
Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement having three
replications. Three irrigation regime i.e., I1 (eight
irrigation), I2 (six irrigation, two missed at vegetative
stage) and I3 (seven one missed at grain filling stage) were
kept in main plots and four rates of nitrogen; N1 (150 kg ha-1),
N2 (200 kg ha-1), N3 (250 kg ha-1)
and N4 (300 kg ha-1) were randomized in sub plots.
Results showed that maximum leaf area index (4.92), number of grains per
cob (490), grain yield (8.49 t ha-1) and harvest index
(47.73%) were achieved in N3 treatment with I1
irrigation regime while the highest biological yield (17.97 t ha-1)
was recorded in N4 treatment with the I1
irrigation regimes . The minimum1000-grains weight (314 g), biological
yield (12.48 t ha-1) and grain yield (4.67 t ha-1)
were recorded in the combination of I2 and N1
treatments. Water stress at six and twelve leaves stage simultaneously
decreased grain yield 30% while water stress at grain filling stage
decreased 20% yield.
Agro-Climatology
Lab., Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture,
Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan
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