Effect of different furrow and plant spacing on yield and water use efficiency of maize

In southern zone of Tigray, Ethiopia, there is a large competition between maize production and other horticultural crops for the limited irrigation water. Hence, there is an imminent need to improve the water use efficiency or more importantly the water productivity of the area. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of furrow and plant spacing and their interaction on yield and water use efficiency of maize. Experimental treatments include three levels furrow spacing (50, 70 and 90 cm) and three levels of plant spacing (20, 25 and 30 cm) were arranged in factorial RCBD design under three replications. Maize (BH543 variety) was used in this study in which all agronomic practices were treated equally including the amount of water applied. Maize water requirement was estimated using CROPWAT 8 software. The result revealed that there was significant difference among the treatments (p < 0.05) for grain yield, biomass yield and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). But it was not significantly different for the yield components (plant height and number of cobs per plant). Maximum grain yield (56.26 qt/ha) and IWUE (0.876 kg/m3) were obtained from 50 cm furrow and 30 cm plant spacing interaction. But maximum biomass yield (250.6 qt/ha) was obtained from 50 cm furrow and 20 cm plant spacing interaction. The IWUE ranges from 0.357 kg/m3 to 0.876 kg/m3 for the equal amount of irrigation water applied (642 mm) for each treatment. This shows how much IWUE of small scale farmers can vary as their agronomic practice (plant and furrow spacing) is different from one another. Hence, it can be concluded that irrigation agronomist experts and development agents of the study area must create awareness to the small scale farmers to exercise 50 cm furrow spacing with 30 cm plant spacing to improve and increase the water productivity of maize.