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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315416
Title: Water use and grain yield in drought-tolerant corn in the Texas High Plains

Author
item BAOZHEN, HAO - Texas A&M Agrilife
item XUE, QINGWU - Texas A&M Agrilife
item MAREK, THOMAS - Texas A&M Agrilife
item JESSUP, KIRL - Texas A&M Agrilife
item HOU, XIABO - Texas A&M Agrilife
item XU, WENWEI - Texas A&M Agrilife
item BYNUM, ED - Texas A&M Agrilife
item BEAN, BRENT - Nextsteppe Seeds, Inc
item Colaizzi, Paul
item HOWELL, TERRY - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/4/2015
Publication Date: 8/3/2015
Citation: Baozhen, H., Xue, Q., Marek, T., Jessup, K., Hou, X., Xu, W., Bynum, E., Bean, B., Colaizzi, P.D., Howell, T. 2015. Water use and grain yield in drought-tolerant corn in the Texas High Plains. Agronomy Journal. 107(5):1922-1930.

Interpretive Summary: The Texas High Plains is a major corn producing region, but drought and diminishing availability of irrigation water threaten corn production. Corn varieties have been developed that are intended to be drought resistant. Scientists from Texas A & M AgriLife and ARS, Bushland, TX tested four new drought tolerant corn varieties, and compared these to a conventional corn variety. All corn varieties were irrigated in the Texas High Plains. The study was conducted in 2011, 2012, and 2013, which were record drought years in Texas and the Southwest. For high irrigation rates, the conventional and drought tolerant corn varieties produced nearly the same grain. For low irrigation rates, the drought tolerant corn varieties produced greater grain compared with the conventional corn variety. These results showed that proper selection of corn varieties can increase grain yield when available irrigation water is limited.

Technical Abstract: Drought is an important factor limiting corn (Zea mays L.) yields in the Texas High Plains, and adoption of drought-tolerant (DT) hybrids could be a management tool under water shortage. We conducted a 3-yr field study to investigate grain yield, evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) in conventional and DT hybrids. One conventional (33D49) and 4 DT hybrids (P1151HR, P1324HR, P1498HR and P1564HR) were grown at 3 water regimes (I100, I75 and I50, referring to 100%, 75% and 50% ET requirement) and 3 planting densities (PD) (5.9, 7.4 and 8.4 plants m-2). Grain yield (13.56 Mg ha-1) and ET (719 mm) were the highest at I100 but WUE (20.73 kg ha-1 mm-1) was the highest at I75. Although DT hybrids did not always have higher yield and WUE than 33D49 at I100, DT hybrids P1151HR and P1564HR consistently had higher yield and WUE than 33D49 at I75 and I50. Compared to 33D49, P1151HR and P1564HR had 8.6-12.1% (0.99-1.35 Mg ha-1) and 19.1% (1.19 Mg ha-1) higher yield at I75 and I50, respectively. Correspondingly, WUE was 9.8-11.7% and 20.0% higher at I75 and I50, respectively. Higher PD resulted in higher yield and WUE at I100 and I75 but PD did not affect yield and WUE at I50. On the average, yield and WUE in higher PD (8.4 plants m-2) were 6.3-8.3% higher than those in lower PD (5.9 plants m-2). The results of this study demonstrated that proper selection of DT hybrids can increase corn yield and WUE under water-limited conditions.