Effect of Irrigation Water Salinity on Yield and Agronomic Charactristics of Three Corn (Zea mays L.) Hybrids Using Drip-Tape Irrigation

The application of marginal water, such as saline water for irrigation, is inevitable due to increasing demand for water in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to study the effect of salinity stress on growth and yield of three fodder maize hybrids using drip-tape irrigation, a factorial experiment in randomized complete block design was carried out in 2017. The treatments consisted of three maize hybrids (SC 704, SC 400 and SC 260) and three levels of water salinity (0.7, 3 and 5 dS/m). To ensure seed germination, all treatments were irrigated with fresh water from germination stage to 40 cm height of corn and then salinity stress was applied. The results of variance analysis and comparison of mean measured charactristics (fresh and dry weight of forage, grain yield, 1000-grain weight, leaf area index and plant height) showed that there were significant differences among charactristics under different levels of water salinity. The most and the least amount of each charactristic were observed in the control and maximum salinity stress treatments, respectively. The result of this study showed a significant effect of maize hybrid type on most of the measured charactristics, as the most amounts was found in SC 704.