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Variation in actual corn (Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration, single, and dual crop coefficient under different point source irrigation systems in a semiarid region

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Abstract

Close management of irrigation could have considerable impacts on water resources, especially for cropping systems dominated by corn. The experiment was carried out to compare the influence of porous capsule irrigation (PCI), surface drip irrigation (DI), and subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems, with or without mulching, on actual evapotranspiration (ETc act), crop coefficients (Kc single and Kc dual), biomass yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of corn in a semiarid region of Iran. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot design with the three irrigation systems assigned to the main plots and two mulching (with or without foil type) treatments (M1 and M2) assigned to the sub-plots. The corn ETc act varied significantly (P < 0.05) with the different irrigation systems, being (mm) 389.8 for PCI, 377.0 for DI, and 372.8 for SDI. The highest Kc average and Kcb (0.82 and 1.22) and the lowest Ke (0.12) were observed under the PCI system. The dry and wet biological biomass yields were highest (29.98 and 107 t/ha) under the PCI + M1 treatment, and the lowest (23.19 and 58.54 t/ha, respectively) were under the DI + M2 treatment. The highest WUE (7.89 kg/m3) was also observed under the PCI + M1 treatment; PCI produced the best biological biomass yield, WUE and IWUE in comparison to DI and SDI systems. Accordingly, the PCI system could be a viable alternative to drip irrigation for areas with scarce water resources, particularly for smallholder farmers.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed for the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

For this publication, we did not use any code.

Work was approved by the technical committee of the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Alborz, Iran, for the assistance in conducting this study. The authors wish to render heartfelt gratitude to Egrinya Eneji, Professor of Agronomy & Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Training and Doctrine, Cross River State, Nigeria, for carefully editing the manuscript linguistically and technically.

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The authors received general support for the study but the support did not cover this submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, P.O. Box 65178-33131, Hamedan, Iran

    Elahe Kanani & Samira Akhavan

  2. Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, P.O. Box 31585-845, Karaj, Alborz, Iran

    Hossein Dehghanisanij

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  1. Elahe Kanani
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Contributions

Elahe Kanani: performed the experiments and drafted the manuscript. Hossein Dehghanisanij: conceived and designed the experiments, supervised the work, interpreted the data, and co-wrote the paper. Samira Akhavan: substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, analysis, and interpretation of data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hossein Dehghanisanij.

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Kanani, E., Dehghanisanij, H. & Akhavan, S. Variation in actual corn (Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration, single, and dual crop coefficient under different point source irrigation systems in a semiarid region. Theor Appl Climatol 148, 303–315 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-03932-w

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