Impact of Irrigation Intervals and Tillage Systems on Soil Moisture Distribution and Maize (Zea mays L.) Growth in Eastern Sudan

Khalid Hussian Solieman; Ali Widaa Mohammed Elamin; Mohamed Hassan Dahab; Haitham Rajib Elramlawi; Adam Bush Adam; Amir Mustafa Abd Aldaim

Volume : IX, Issue : XI, November - 2019

Impact of Irrigation Intervals and Tillage Systems on Soil Moisture Distribution and Maize (Zea mays L.) Growth in Eastern Sudan

Khalid Hussian Solieman, Ali Widaa Mohammed Elamin, Mohamed Hassan Dahab, Haitham Rajib Elramlawi, Adam Bush Adam, Amir Mustafa Abd Aldaim

Abstract :

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different irrigation intervals and tillage systems on soil moisture distribution and maize (Zea mays L.) growth and yield. The field work was carried out at Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Kassala, New Halfa (Sudan) for two consecutive seasons (2009/2010 and 2010/2011). The irrigation intervals were 14 days (I1) and 21 days (I2). While the tillage systems were {(disc plowing + harrowing + leveling + ridging (TS1)), (chisel plowing + harrowing + leveling + ridging, (TS2)), (disc harrowing + leveling + ridging, (TS3)), and ridging only, (TS4)}. The experiment was organized in split plot design with three replications. The soil moisture distribution was estimated before and during the experiment, while the measured crop growth and yield parameters were emergence percentage, plant height, leaf area index, biological yield, grain yield, and harvest index. The results showed that moisture content (%) tend to increase significantly (P≤ 0.05) with depth before running the treatments and during the different stages of the experiment, while the highest values of moisture content were observed with I1 and TS2. Moreover, irrigation intervals and tillage systems showed high significant (P≤0.01) effect on the leaf area index, grain yield and harvest index in both seasons. Hence, the combination of I1 and TS2 showed the highest grain yield across the two seasons (8.5 and10.4 ton/ha) compared to I2 with TS3 and TS4 which revealed the lowest ones, (6.5 and 3.9 ton/ha, respectively). The conclusion drawn from this study is that I1 and TS2 were showed the best soil moisture distribution and significant improvement of maize growth and yield parameters.