An evaluation of water-yield relations in maize (Zea mays L.) in Turkey

The objective of this study was to compare the responses of maize (Zea mays L.) to deficit irrigation. A field experiment was conducted during the 1999 and 2000 growing seasons in western Turkey. Irrigation treatments were tested with 100, 70, 50, 30 and 0% replenishment of water depleted at 120 cm soil profile from 100% replenishment treatment at ten days intervals. The irrigation amount ranged between 0 and 323.20 mm in the first year and 0-466.61 mm in the second year of the experiment. Seasonal crop water use values were between 142.19 and 481.91 mm in 1999 and 136.25-599.45 mm in 2000. Average maximum and minimum yields were 10639-10383 kg ha(-1) for full irrigated treatment (I100) and 3750-2136 kg ha(-1) for non-irrigated treatment (I0) in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Water deficit significantly affected maize yield. In both years, yield increased linearly with irrigation applied but the relationship varied from one year to the other. Water Use Efficiency (WUE) ranged from 1.49 to 2.71 kg m(-3), while Irrigation Water Use Efficiency (IWUE) varied from 1.44 to 2.55 kg m(-3) in both years. The yield response factor (ky) relating relative yield decrease to relative evapotranspiration deficit was found to be 0.99 for the data of the two experiments combined. Also, dry matter yields (DM) and leaf area index (LAI) were markedly affected by the irrigation treatments. The finding of this work showed that well-irrigated treatment should be used for maize grown in semi arid regions under no water scarcity.