Yield and water use efficiency of corn planted in one or two rows and applying furrow or drip tape irrigation systems in Ghazvin Province, Iran

This study investigated water use efficiency and yield in corn (SC 704) irrigated with drip (tape) and furrow irrigation systems in Ghazvin, Iran, in 2006. Four levels of irrigation including: 80, 100 and 120% of water requirement with drip irrigation (tape) and 100% water requirement with furrow irrigation as main plots and method of planting (one and two rows), as well as three levels of crop density including: 75 000, 90 000 and 105 000 (plants ha−1) as subplots were considered. The highest average grain yield was 12.9 t ha−1 while the treatment was drip irrigation at level of 120% water requirement in a two‐row planting pattern and crop density equal to 75 000 plants ha−1 (I3R2D1 treatment). The highest water use efficiency (WUE) was obtained in I3R2D1 treatment as 1.96 kg m−3, while the lowest was found in drip irrigation at a level of 80% water requirement in a two‐row planting pattern and crop density equal to 75 000 plants ha−1 (I1R2D1 treatment) as 0.82 kg m−3. Variance analysis of the grain yield data indicated that both planting pattern and interaction of planting pattern and crop density significantly affected the yields. Generally, the planting of one row resulted in significantly higher grain yields than the other planting pattern.