WUE

During drought chemical elements in a dry fertilizer go into solution in the soil with difficulty and the nutrients are less available to the plant. Foliar fertilization with Tecamin flower ® , could compensate for nutrient deficiency due to water deficit. This study was designed to observe the effects of different application rates of foliar application of Tecamin flower® on growth, yield and field water use efficiency (CWUE) of tomato under water deficit. The field experiment was conducted from March till July 2016 at the teaching and research farm of Diyala University, Iraq. Performance of tomato genotype 'Bobcat', 'Finenss' and 'Hadeer' was assessed by foliar application of Tecamin flower ® at (0 and 2.5 mL L-1) and two irrigation levels (50 and 100% based on field capacity). The results showed that chlorophyll content, fruit weight, yield per plant, total yield and CWUE were significantly affected by genotype and irrigations levels and application of Tecamin flower ®. 'Bobcat' genotype has the highest value of plant yield (3.39 kg) and total yield (90.19 t ha-1). 'Finenss' has the highest values for number fruit per plant (40.75), CWUE (75.37 kg m-3) and the minimum leaf proline content (2.584 mg g-1). Plant irrigated at 100% had the highest value of number fruit (35.27 fruit), most yield per plant (3.53 kg), total yield (94.02 t ha-1) and minimum leaf proline content (2.557 mg g-1). The highest CWUE (84.50 kg m-3) were at 50% level. Plant treated at 2.5 mL L-1 Tecamin flower ® had most fruit/plant (37.61) yield per plant (3.73 kg), total yield (99.16 t ha-1), CWUE (85.22 kg m-3) and minimum leaf proline content (2.437 mg g-1).

Field experiment was conducted at the Students' Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, NDUA&T, Kumarganj, Faizabad, during rabi season to study the effect of irrigation levels (I1-one irrigation at crown root initiation (CRI) at 24 days after sowing (DAS); I2-two irrigation each at CRI and flowering (80 DAS); I3-three irrigation each at CRI; late jointing (60 DAS) and milk stage (95 DAS); I4-four irrigation each at CRI; tillering (42 DAS); flowering and milk stage and fertility sources F1-100 per cent recommended dose (RD) of NPK through fertilizers; F2-75 per cent RD of NPK through fertilizers +25 per cent recommended dose (RD) through FYM, F3-50 per cent RD of NPK through fertilizers +50 per cent RD through farm yard manure (FYM) and F4-100 per cent RD of NPK through FYM) on productivity, nutrient uptake and water use efficiency of wheat, were tested in split plot design with three replications. Application of four irrigations (I4) recorded higher yield attributes, yield, protein content, nutrient uptake, and net return and it was on par with three irrigations (I3), whereas water use efficiency decreased with increasing irrigation levels. The 100 per cent RD of NPK (F1) through fertilizers recorded significantly higher spikelets spike-1, spike length, grains spike-1, nutrient uptake, protein content, water use efficiency and Net return over F3 and F4 and it was statistically on par with 75 per cent RD of NPK (F2) through fertilizers +25 per cent RDF through FYM. Whereas, highest grain and straw yield was obtained under 100 per cent RD of NPK (F1) through fertilizer which was found significantly superior over other sources of fertility.

Field studies were conducted during the four Rabi seasons (2011-12 to 2014-15) to investigate the impact of seed priming and micro irrigation on crop establishment, growth, productivity, and water productivity in wheat under different moisture regimes. Results indicated that sprouted seed (5830 kg ha-1) and primed seed (5766 kg ha-1) produced significantly higher grain yield in comparison to un-primed seeds (5416 kg ha-1). The germination was quick in the primed and sprouted seeds relative to non-primed seeds resulting in a better crop establishment and higher yield under optimum, sub-optimum and dry soil conditions. Irrigation method treatments viz., check basin, drip, sprinkler and drip + rainport showed that the grain yield was highest in the drip + rainport. Water productivity was highest in drip method of irrigation (1.61 kg m-3) followed by drip + rainport method (1.60 kg m-3) with a maximum mean productivity of 5539 kg ha-1. Around 600 m3ha-1 has been saved using seed priming thus reducing the cultivation cost by  382/ha. Among the micro irrigation techniques, water saved was highest in drip followed by sprinkler and drip + rainport. The study suggests for adoption of drip and seed priming to take advantage of yield enhancement as well as cost reduction through reduced utilisation of water.

Water deficit stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that severely affects the plant performance and production especially when it occurs during the reproductive phase. That drought research is an ongoing approach as new breeding lines development is a continuous process. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted with recently developed 12 maize (Zea mays L.) genotypes under Well Water (WW) and Water Deficit stress (WDS) conditions to quantify the impact of WD stress on phenological, physiobiochemical and yield parameters. The results showed that WD stress significantly altered the Anthesis Silking Interval (ASI) among the genotypes but had no effect on the genotypes DTL-4-1 and Harsha. A significant decrease in net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and WUE was recorded with WD stress. Accumulation of proline under WD stress was significantly higher with DTL-4-1 and Harsha with a lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content and increased activity of SOD thereby maintained better cell membrane stability (CMS). Biomass and grain yield components were also significantly impacted by the water deficit stress. Among the maize genotypes, DTL-4, DTL-4-1 and Harsha showed better Stress tolerance index (STI). Under WD stress, grain yield showed significant positive association with proline, CMS, kernel number while negative association with MDA and ASI, indicating importance of these traits in imparting WD stress tolerance in maize.