Corn yield and yield components response to partial root zone drying and potassium applicationF:\Agronomy\110\site

The use of procedures in crop production that improve water use efficiency and reduce water consumption is an important issue. An experiment was conducted in 2009 in order to evaluate the corn (SC704) reaction to partial root zone and potassium application at Fars province. Treatments consisted of four irrigation levels (control, alternative furrow irrigation during whole season, alternative furrow irrigation until flowering then full irrigation and full irrigation until flowering then alternative furrow irrigation after flowering) and three potassium levels (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 potassium sulfate). The treatments were arranged as factorial experiment based on a randomized complete blocks design with four replications. Corn density was 7 plants/m2. The results showed that irrigation had significant effects on grain yield, water consumption, seed weight, seed per row and grain number per ear. The highest grain yield obtained in control irrigation but it was not significantly different from alternative furrow irrigation until flowering. The lowest water consumption was observed in alternative furrow irrigation until flowering treatment. Potassium treatments had significant effect only on seed weight. Application of 200 kg/ha potassium had the highest seed weight. In conclusion the results suggested that with alternative furrow irrigation water use reduced by 15.61% compared to conventional methods.