EFFECT OF ECONOMIC USE OF IRRIGATION WATER ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF INTERCROPPED MAIZE AND SUNFLOWER | ||||
Journal of Plant Production | ||||
Article 3, Volume 34, Issue 6, June 2009, Page 6531-6542 PDF (454.2 K) | ||||
Document Type: Original Article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/jpp.2009.118398 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
A. I. Nawar1; H. E. Khalil2; H. M. Ibrahim1; K. I. EL-Habbak2 | ||||
1Crop Sci. Dept., Fac. of Agric, Alex. Univ. | ||||
2Crop Intensification Dept., Field Crop Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center. | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Three maize/ sunflower intercropping patterns (S1, S2 and S3) were tested compared to pure maize (Pm) and pure sunflower (Psu) grown in solid planting under three irrigation treatments during 2005 and 2006 seasons. Intercropping unit, that repeated twice, consisted of four ridges, of which 3 were sown with sunflower and the fourth was sown with maize on one side (S1) or two sides (S2) of ridge. In S3, maize was grown as in S2 with additional side on the third sunflower ridge. Irrigation treatments were frequent irrigation (I1) every 15 days and skipping either second (I2) or the third (I3) irrigation (at 35 or 50 days after sowing, respectively). Frequent irrigation of maize gave significantly greater plant height, percent of fertile plants, 100-grain weight and grain yield/ fed., under (I1) irrigation regime compared to maize grown under I2 and I3 irrigation levels. Maize intercropped with sunflower in S3 system produced the tallest plants, while pure maize in (Pm) plots, followed by that of S1 system, produced heavier 100-grain weight and greater grain yield/ fed. than those obtained from S2 and S3 systems. Pure maize, followed by maize in S1, gave higher values for plant height, number of grains/ ear and grain yield/ fed., compared to S2 and S3 systems over I2 and I3 irrigation regimes. Frequent irrigation followed by early drought (I2) significantly surpassed late drought (I3) for sunflower characters of seed yield/ plant, 100-seed weight and seed yield/ fed. The S1 system with frequent irrigation produced greater sunflower 100-seed weight and seed yield/ fed. than from S2 and S3 over I2 and I3 irrigation treatments. The maximum LER (1.59) was obtained from S1 applied with (I1) irrigation treatment. It is suggested that as total populations in the intercrop are higher (S2 and S3) than that of sole cropping, yields could be less than sole crop yields because of the increased competition for moisture under high stress conditions (I3). | ||||
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