Effects of soil management and timing of irrigation on the yield and water use of wheat grown on a silty clay terrace soil

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at Salna in the Pleistocene Madhupur tract of Bangladesh for three consecutive rabi seasons (October to March) of 1990 to 1993 to evaluate the yield response of wheat to different management and irrigation treatments. This effort was made to identify a suitable management practice with proper timing of irrigation in order to save the limited and costly irrigation water in wheat cultivation. Irrigation was found to be indispensable and two irrigations were necessary for achieving the highest yield of wheat cultivation. In case of single irrigation, early irrigation (at 26 days after sowing) was found superior to late irrigation (at 62 days after sowing). The rice straw mulching was proved to be the best management practice for conserving soil moisture and increasing yield and water use efficiency of wheat The mulching with two irrigations recorded the highest yield of 4.15, 4.37, and 4.48 Mg/ha in the 1st 2nd, and 3rd seasons, respectively, with the total water use of 194, 179, and 207