EFFECT OF DEFICIT IRRIGATION AND NITROGEN FERTILIZATION ON COWPEA YIELD, ITS COMPONENTS AND WATER PRODUCTIVITY IN NORTH DELTA OF EGYPT. | ||||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||||
| Article 2, Volume 2, Issue 3, March 2011, Page 279-293 PDF (586 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2011.55435 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| Gh. Sh. El-Atawy1; M. H. Kasem2 | ||||
| 1Soils, Water and Environment Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt | ||||
| 2Veg. Res. Dep., Hort. Res. Inst. Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Two field experiments were performed at Sakha Agricultural Research Station, (31° 05’ N latitude and 30° 56’ E longitude), Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, during the two growing summer seasons of 2009 and 2010, to study the effect of deficit irrigation by watering after 50%, 70% and 90% of available soil moisture deficit (ASMD) and four levels of nitrogen fertilization at 10, 20, 30 and 40 kg N fed.-1 on cowpea yield, its components and water productivity in North Delta of Egypt. A split-plot design with four replicates was used. Mean values of seasonal water consumptive use were 42.17, 37.05 and 30.12cm in the 1st season and 41.22, 36.51 and 29.67 cm in the 2nd season for the 50%, 70% and 90% of ASMD, respectively and seasonal amounts of irrigation water applied for cowpea were 63.10 cm, 54.09 cm and 43.10 cm in the 1st season and 61.66, 53.33 and 42.40 cm in the 2nd season for 50%, 70% and 90% of ASMD, respectively. Results revealed that the highest values of plant height, number of leaves plant-1, number of branches plant-1 and chlorophyll content were obtained from irrigation at 50% of ASMD in the first season, while the highest values of seed yield plant-1, seed yield fed.-1 and number of pods plant-1 were obtained from irrigation at 70% of ASMD in the both seasons. The mean results showed that adding 40 kg N fed.-1 significantly increased plant height, number of leaves plant-1, number of branches plant-1 and chlorophyll content in both seasons, while adding 30 kg N fed.-1 gave the highest mean values of seed yield plant-1, seed yield fed.-1,number of pods plant-1 and 100-seed weight in both seasons. The highest values of water productivity (WP) and productivity of irrigation water (PIW) were 0.763and 0.541kg m-3 in the 1st season and 0.568 and 0.403 kg of seeds m-3 in the 2nd season as a result of irrigation at 90% of ASMD and fertilization with 30 kg N fed.-1 in the both seasons. Irrigation at 90% of ASMD enhanced WP by 29.7 and 33.4% and PIW by 35.9 and 39.7% compared to irrigation at 50% of ASMD in the two seasons, respectively. WP and PIW increased by increasing N application up to 30 kg N fed.-1. It can be recommended that the best results under the experimental conditions were irrigating cowpea cultivars at 70% of ASMD and fertilization with 30 kg N fed.-1. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Cowpea; Irrigation; Nitrogen fertilization; water productivity | ||||
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