Effects of deficit irrigation on growth trend, quantity and quality characteristics of maize in Kermanshah

This study was conducted to investigate impacts of deficit irrigation on trend of crop growth, quantity and quality characteristics and water use efficiency of maize in Kermanshah. The field study was carried out at a randomized complete block design with four irrigation treatments (40% deficit irrigation, 20% deficit irrigation, full irrigation (FAO Penman-Monteith method) and 20% over irrigation) and three replications with furrow irrigation method. Results indicated that impacts of deficit irrigation was significant on grain yield, biomass, weight of stems, weight of ears, weight of leaves, leaf area index, plant height, number of kernels per row, number of kernels per ear, grain protein and fat. The impacts of water stress on characteristics of maize were different in different stages of growth and were higher at the end of the growing season (grain filling stage). Maximum amount of water use efficiency in grain and fat was in T4 respectively 1.051 and 0.0549 Kg/ha and for biomass and protein was in T3 respectively 2.568 and 0.092 Kg/ha. So deficit irrigation is not recommended for maize in Kermanshah.