Effects of different irrigation aplications on the water and fertiliser use efficiency of four corn genotypes

Enhancing arable lands is not possible anymore and therefore the agricultural production in cultivable lands has to be the done more efficiently. Crop production can be increased by 5 folds under irrigated conditions; however the diminishing of water resources and degradation of its quality due to rapid population increase also necessitates a restriction of water usage in the agriculture which is the biggest user of fresh water sources. Applying water saving irrigation techniques and selecting drought tolerant crops are indispensable strategies for saving the water sources and meeting the food demand of ever increasing population. This study aims the determination of water and nitrogen use efficiency of four different corn genotypes (P.31.G.98, P.3394, Rx:9292 ve Tietar) under various irrigation applications including deficit irrigation techniques. Yield response of cultivars has been was different under different water amounts, however, there was no statistical difference between deficit irrigation applications. The water use efficiency under partial root-zone drying irrigation was higher than those of obtained under traditional deficit irrigation treatment even without statistical difference. The highest and lowest yields were obtained under P.3394 and Rx:9292 cultivars respectively. Nitrogen use efficiency (NFU) has been affected from the irrigation as well as from the genotypes. The NFU was higher under FULL treatment, while those were lower under the deficit treatments. The differences in terms of NFU between deficit treatments was insignificant and also changed from year to year. Key Words: Partial Rootzone Drying, Corn Genotypes, Nitrogen Fertiliser Use Efficiency