The Response of Two Drip-Irrigated Sweet Corn Varieties to the Twin-Row Production System in the Dry Mediterranean Region

Abstract

Introduction: Minimizing production costs for drip-irrigated crops by reducing the number of driplines per unit-area is an urgent need to address the sustainability of the present production system. Materials and Methods: A two-year field experiment (2017 and 2018) was carried out to assess the effects of twin-row crop production system on two sweet corn varieties (Zea mays L.: an introduced variety “Silver Queen” and a local variety “White Kokab”) grown in a clay loam soil in the dry Mediterranean region. Three-row crop/dripline spacing configurations for each variety with three replicates were tested as: (i) single-row system at 75-cm crop row spacing with 75-cm dripline spacing (a dripline for each crop row), (ii) single-row system at 75-cm crop row spacing with 150-cm dripline spacing (a dripline for two crop rows), and (iii) twin-row system, 37.5 cm apart, on 150-cm centers, with 150-cm dripline spacing (a dripline for each twin-rows). Results and Conclusion: The local variety was better than the introduced variety in husked cop yield (13.93 t ha-1) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE, 1.92 kg m-3). Results also showed that the twin-row system with 150-cm dripline spacing provided similar husked cop yield and IWUE as the conventional 75-cm dripline spacing due to the more favourable rootzone soil water status; and both were higher in the two attributes than the single-row 150-cm dripline spacing. With 50% less unit-area driplines, twin-rows with 150-cm dripline spacing was considered to be more productive, economical and environmentally friendly.