Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Water Engineering, Agriculture faculty, University of Zanjan, Iran
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of deficit irrigation with magnetized water on yield and water productivity of maize. The research was carried out as factorial with 2 factors arranged in complete randomized blocks design with 4 replications in the greenhouse of Zanjan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center from July to September 2011. The factors were the amount of irrigation water consisting of 100%, 80%, 60% and 40% of crop water requirement (T1 (control treatment), T2, T3, T4) and water type consisting of magnetized and tap water. Based on the results, passing the tap water through a magnetic field reduced the amount of calcium and chlorine ions by 41.11 and 35.5 mg/lit, respectively. Leaf area, leaf chlorophyll content, total wet and dry mass, and water productivity of plants irrigated with magnetized water increased by 9.5%, 10.68%, 8.31%, 17.41%, and 9% compared to plants irrigated with tap water. These differences were statistically significant. The results showed that deficit irrigation caused significant difference at 4 levels in leaf area, leaf chlorophyll content and total wet and dry mass. Total wet weight and water productivity (based on total wet weight) in the magnetized and tap water treatments were 31.56 ton/ha and 14.22 kg/m3, and 28.94 ton/ha and 12.94 kg/m3, respectively.
Keywords
)