Interaction Effects of Water Salinity and Deficit Irrigation on Growth of Grain Maize under Single row of Tape Irrigation

In order to investigate the effect of different salinity levels and deficit irrigation on the growth and yield and water productivity of maize, an experiment was conducted in the research farm of the College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran in 2018. The factorial experiment was performed as a randomized complete block design with three replications. Four salinity levels of irrigation water including control (0.6), 2, 3.5 and 5 dS m-1 and three levels of irrigation water depths including full irrigation, 75% and 50% of full irrigation were applied. Maximum seed yield, number of seeds per ear and total dry matter were observed in full irrigation treatment with salinity level of 0.6 dS m-1. Increased salinity from 0.6 to 3.5 dS m-1  had no significant effect on harvest index. Increasing the stress to 50% of full irrigation caused an average of 23% increase in seed maize water productivity. Maximum dry matter water productivity of 3.06 kg m-3was observed in the treatment of 50% full irrigation with salinity of 2 dS m-1. Therefore, in case of water shortage from the point of view of water resources management and soil salinity management, considering the salt leaching to prevent salt accumulation in the soil, treatment of 50% full irrigation with irrigation water salinity of 2 dS m-1 is recommended due to higher water productivity and lower yield slope per unit increase in salinity.