Research
Effect of Radial Spacing on the Growth and Yield of Maize under Olla Irrigation
This research was carried out in Federal College of Forestry Jos, during the 2015/2016 cropping season, to determine the Effect of radial spacing on growth and yield of Maize (Zea mays L.) under Olla irrigation. The experiment consisted of four (4) treatment each replicated three (3) times in randomized complete block design (RCBD) .The parameters assessed were plant height, stem diameter, leaf count and grain yield. The spacing of 25x10cm (T1) gave the highest plant height followed by 25x20cm (T2) and 25x30cm (T3), while 25x40cm (T4) had the lowest. The spacing distance of 25x10cm recorded the highest stem diameter of 7.50cm while 25x40cm had the least value of 5.77cm.The same pattern was observed for the leaf count with highest value of 8.33cm for treatment one (T1), while T4 recorded the lowest value of 15.67cm respectively. The Grain yield ranged from 2.20- 12.22t/ha for treatment considered recorded under Treatment. The analysis of variance revealed significant difference (p<0.05) on the effects of radial distance on plant height and stem diameter. Conversely, no significant difference (P>0.05) was recorded for leaf count. When the radial spacing from the Olla Pot was increased from 10 to 20, 30 and 40cm; the corresponding yield reduction values were 33, 58 and 82%. There was no significant difference between grain yield of maize when it was planted at radial spacing of 20 and 30cm, implying that in the study area, planting at radial spacing of 20cm from Olla pot is recommended when a farmer is faced with a limited land spaced for farming, even though the impact on yield may be about 25% if 30cm is used instead of 20cm.
Water use Efficiency of Maize Crop Under Deficit Irrigation Scheduling using Gravity Drip System in Samaru, Nigeria
The use of gravity fed drip irrigation systems is fast gaining popularity in Northern Nigeria. The drip kit uses gravity instead of a pump to provide the head (energy) for its operation. The water source (a tank or bucket) is usually place some meters above the ground to provide the pressure head. In the study reported herein, a field experiments were carried out at the Institute for Agricultural Research (I.A.R) irrigation farm Samaru-Nigeria during 2012/2013 irrigation season to evaluate the effect of deficit irrigation scheduling, using the gravity drip kit, on yield and water use of a maize (SAMAZ 14 variety) crop. The field experiment consisted of eight treatments replicated three times. The treatments comprises of a control treatment which was given full irrigation (irrigated at 100 % water requirement) and a full deficit treatment which was irrigated at 50 % water requirement. The other treatments were irrigated at 50 and 75 % of water requirement at different growth stages of the maize crop. The irrigation interval was alternated between three and four days. The drip system layout consisted of three drip lines of 5 m long each per treatment, given a total of 72 lines for the entire field. The drip tape was 16 mm diameter with in-built emitters spaced 30 cm interval. The drip lines were spaced 60 cm apart in each treatment, and a 2000 litres capacity GeePee tank placed 3 m above the ground was used to supply water. The hydraulic performance was drip system was evaluated, grain yield and crop water use were measured and crop water productivity was computed. The average variation of the emitter flow rate was found to be 19.7 %, the emission uniformity was 92 %, while the distribution uniformity was 91.9 %; which implies even distribution of water through the drip system. The average discharge coefficient of variation was 6.34 % and the average coefficient of variation uniformity was calculated as 93.6 %. The overall application efficiency of the system was 92.2
