Comparison of Crop Water Productivity of Traditional and Hybrid Maize Varieties

Abstract

A field study was conducted on clay loam soil at the research farm of The University of Agriculture Peshawar during Kharif 2012. Objective of the study was to compare the crop water productivity of maize using two traditional (V₁=Azam and V₂=Jalal) and two hybrid (V₃=3025W and V₄=30K08) varieties having four replicates. Soil moisture was determined by gravimetric method taking into account soil moisture, rainfall, and irrigation water applied. Crop water productivity (CWP) was calculated by dividing grain yield and total seasonal water applied to each variety. Results showed that CWP of maize variety V₁ ranged from 0.75-0.8 kg m^-3 with a mean of 0.8 kg m^-3, CWP of V₂ ranged from 0.82-0.91 kg m^-3 with a mean of 0.85 kg m^-3, CWP of V₃ ranged from 1.16-1.23 kg m^-3 with a mean of 1.19 kg m^-3 and CWP of V₄ ranged from 1.19-1.31 kg m^-3 with a mean value of 1.24 kg m^-3. Crop water productivity in case of V₁ was low compared to FAO reported values. CWP was found statistically significant (P ? 0.05) for the selected maize varieties. Results showed that among all the varieties V₄ performed better therefore, it is recommended for irrigated areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Key Words: crop water productivity, hybrid maize, traditional varieties.