Recently, Principles and Technologies for Deficit Irrigation Team of Institute of Farmland Irrigation(IFI), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS), has revealed the impact of water deficit on summer maize yield, clarified the greatest irrigation schedule of summer maize, provided effective irrigation strategies for summer maize, ensured stable yield and income of maize, and improved water use efficiency. The research results have been published online in the international academic journal Agronomy.

The results showed that with the decrease of irrigation frequency, the limitation of water deficit on the growth of summer maize increased, grains yield decreased, and water use efficiency increased. Water deficit at seedling stage had little effect on the growth, physiological characteristics and grain yield of summer maize, while water deficit at tasseling stage had the greatest effect on grains yield and water use efficiency. Irrigation in the depth of 90mm at jointing, tasseling and filling stages was the optimal irrigation schedule, which not only had little effect on grains yield, but also reduced water consumption by 16.9 % and increased water use efficiency by 17.3 %.

The research was funded by National Modern Agricultural Technology & Industry System (CARS-02-18), Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (202300410553) and Innovation Program of CAAS.

Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040768

By Liu Zhandong (liuzhandong@caas.cn)