Performance of Spring and Summer-Sown Maize under Different Irrigation Strategies in Pakistan

Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Muhammad Imran, Anwar-ul-Hassan Khan, Ali Fares, Jiří Šimůnek, Tanveer Ul-Haq, Abdulaziz Abdullah Alsahli, Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni and Shafaqat Ali
Additional contact information
Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 03802, Pakistan
Muhammad Imran: Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 03802, Pakistan
Anwar-ul-Hassan Khan: Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 03802, Pakistan
Ali Fares: College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA
Jiří Šimůnek: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
Tanveer Ul-Haq: Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS-University of Agriculture, Multan 60000, Pakistan
Abdulaziz Abdullah Alsahli: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Nasser Alyemeni: Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shafaqat Ali: Department of Environmental Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Pakistan is facing severe water shortages, so using the available water efficiently is essential for maximizing crop production. This can be achieved through efficient irrigation practices. Field studies were carried out to determine the dynamics of soil water and the efficiency of water utilization for maize grown under five irrigation techniques (flood-irrigated flatbed, furrow-irrigated ridge, furrow-irrigated raised bed, furrow-irrigated raised bed with plastic mulch, and sprinkler-irrigated flatbed). Spring and summer maize was grown for two years. The Irrigation Management System (IManSys) was used to estimate the irrigation requirements, evapotranspiration, and other water balance components for this study’s different experimental treatments based on site-specific crop, soil, and weather parameters. The results showed that the flood irrigation flatbed (FIF) treatment produced the highest evapotranspiration, leaf area index ( LAI) , and biomass yield compared to other treatments. However, this treatment did not produce the highest grain yield and had the lowest water use efficiency ( WUE) and irrigation water use efficiency ( WUE i ) compared to the furrow-irrigated raised-bed treatment. The furrow-irrigated raised bed with plastic mulch (FIRBM) treatment improved grain yield, WUE , WUE i , and harvest index compared to the flood irrigation flatbed (FIF) treatment. The results showed a strong correlation between measured and estimated net irrigation requirements and evapotranspiration, with high r 2 values (0.93, 0.99, 0.98, and 0.98) for the spring- and summer-sown maize. It was concluded that the FIRBM treatments improved the grain yield, WUE , and WUEi , which ultimately enhanced sustainable crop production. The growing of summer-sown maize in Pakistan has the potential for sustainable maize production under the semiarid and arid climate.

Keywords: sprinkler irrigation; furrow-irrigated raised bed; irrigation management software; evapotranspiration; water use efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2757/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2757/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2757-:d:510098

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().