Irrigation regimes affect early root development, shoot growth and yields of maize (Zea mays L.) in tropical minor seasons

U.R. Sangakkara, P. Amarasekera and P. Stamp
Additional contact information
U.R. Sangakkara: Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
P. Amarasekera: Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
P. Stamp: Institute of Plant Sciences, ETH Zentrum, Zurich, Switzerland

Plant, Soil and Environment, 2010, vol. 56, issue 5, 228-234

Abstract: Moisture stress is an important factor affecting field-grown maize in the tropics, especially in the minor dry seasons, and irrigation is required for successful crop growth and yields. Field experiments evaluated the impact of four irrigation regimes ranging from 3 to 21-day intervals on growth of maize (Zea mays L.) roots and shoots at critical stages and on seed yields when compared to those of irrigated maize plants in two minor seasons at Sri Lanka. While surface wetting at planting induced germination in all treatments, growth of seminal and first-order lateral roots was enhanced by increasing irrigation intervals. Relative water contents were similar at irrigation intervals of 3, 7 and 14 days and declined thereafter. At anthesis, root length and weight densities indicated the greater penetration into soil layers with increasing intervals of water supply. The highest yields were at 7 and 14-day irrigation intervals thus illustrating that regular water supply in minor dry seasons may be detrimental for maize growth and yields.

Keywords: maize; minor seasons; tropics; irrigation; root initiation; development; yields (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/217/2009-PSE.html (text/html)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/217/2009-PSE.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:56:y:2010:i:5:id:217-2009-pse

DOI: 10.17221/217/2009-PSE

Access Statistics for this article

Plant, Soil and Environment is currently edited by Kateřina Součková

More articles in Plant, Soil and Environment from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().