TITLE:
Effect of Irrigation System, Tillage System, and Seeding Rates on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Growth, Grain Yield and Its Water Consumption and Efficiency
AUTHORS:
Alaa M. Akol, Nadine Nassif, Khudhair Abbas Jaddoa, Haider M. Zwain, Kareem Radhi, Nadhir Al-Ansari
KEYWORDS:
Irrigation, Tillage system, Seeding rates, Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.), Grain yield, Water Consumption
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.13 No.11,
November
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: A field trial was conducted at a private farm in AL-Hashimiya district Babylon
Governorate—the republic of Iraq during the 2016-2017
and 2017-2018 growing seasons. This study was
conducted using two irrigation methods, sprinkler and surface irrigation, for
each of them had three Tillage methods (zero-tillage, medium-tillage, deep-tillage) and each tillage system had four seeding rate of wheat
yield (120, 180, 240, 300) kg∙ha-1. Results indicated that the consumptive water use was 557.5 and 535.9 mm
for surface irrigation and 460.9 and 442.6 mm for sprinkler irrigation in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 growing seasons. Sprinkler irrigation
significantly increased the flag leaf area with no significant effect on plant
height. However, the minimum tillage and seeding rate (240 kg∙ha-1) significantly increased the
plant height and flag leaf area in both
growing seasons. For the grain yield, the sprinkler irrigation, minimum
tillage, and seeding rate (240 kg∙ha-1) also increased the plant height
and flag leaf area by 13%, 10, % 11%, 11%, 12%, and 14% in both growing
seasons, respectively, through an increased number of spikes/m2, the
number of grain spike-1, and 1000-grain weight in both growing seasons, respectively. Interestingly the grain yield was increased by 33% and 32% in
both growing seasons under the effects of these three factors altogether, respectively.
It can be concluded that these factors act synergistically, resulting in a
significant improvement in the wheat grain-yield of, less consumptive water
use, and high water use efficiency.