Improving yield and water productivity of maize grown under deficit-irrigated in dry area conditions

Scarcity of water is the most severe constraint for development of maize in arid and semi-arid areas. Based on the actual crop need, the irrigation management has to be improved so that the water supply to the crop can be reduced while still achieving high yield. Therefore, the current study has been organized to evaluate the effects of deficit sprinkler irrigation (DSI) and farmyard manure (FYM) on Grain yield (GY) and crop water productivity (CWP) of corn, a 2-year experiment was conducted in arid region of Libya. The DSI treatments were (I100 = 100%, I85 = 85% or I70 = 70%) of the crop evapotranspiration. FYM treatments were (0, 10 ton ha−1 ) spread either on the soil surface, incorporated with surface or subsurface layer (FYM10s, FYM10m or FYM10ss, respectively) and 20 ton ha−1 spread as before (FYM20s, FYM20m or FYM20ss, respectively). Results indicated that the highest values of grain yield (GY) were obtained from I100 treatment, while the lowest were observed in I70. FYM20ss enhanced GY than other FYM treatments in both seasons. The highest GY and CWP were recorded with I100 and received FYM20ss. It could be considered as a suitable under arid environmental conditions and similar regions, the treatment (I100 × FYM20ss) is the most suitable for producing high GY and CWP. Under limited irrigation water, application of (I85 ×FYM20ss) treatment was found to be favorable to save 15% of the applied irrigation water, at the time in which produced the same GY.