NITROGEN AND WATER USE OF IRRIGATED JUTE MALLOW (Corchorus olitorius)

Abstract

Soil water is the major limiting factor to the production of Corchorus olitorius especially during the dry period. Two field trials (experiments I and 2) were conducted between March and April, 2000 and between September and October, 2000 at the Experiment farm of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure. The aim was to quantify the water use pattern, water balance and the yield of C. olitorius under six treatments based on Irrigation water and fertilizer applications. The treatments were: Irrigation at full pan evaporation plus 100 kgN/ha, fertilizer, Irrigation at full pan evaporation plus zero kgN/ha fertilizer, Irrigation at ~ Pan evaporation plus 100 kgN/ha fertilizer; Irrigation at ~ pan evaporation plus zero kgN/ha fertilizer; Irrigation at ~ pan evaporation plus 100 kg/haN fertilizer, Irrigation at 12 pan evaporation plus zero kgN/ha fertilizer. Crop water use (ET) differed among treatments and it reflected an influence of irrigation water application and hence soil moisture availability for crop growth and yield. The highest water use (7.1 mm/day and 11.8 mm/day) were observed at 35 DAP and 14 DAP during the first and second experiments, respectively. The highest WUE (19.80 g/rrr' of water) was obtained from irrigation at full pan evaporation plus 100 kgN/ha at the 7 WAP in block A during the second experiment. In addition, the result showed that nitrogen application was beneficial to the crop in terms of growth and yield such as, higher leaf number, fresh and dry matter production. Biomass yield (dry basis) was highest at 7WAP (9.63 tonlha) in irrigation treatment at full pan evaporation plus 100 kgN/ha during experiment 2. A linear Regression model for Water-Nitrogen- Yield was established: equation Y = 0.1503ET - 6.8851 (linear) and Y = 0.0011ET2 + 0.622ET - 53.97 (polynomial) gave the best relationship but correlation (R2 = 0.836) was highest when data from treatment without fertilizer application were used. The result obtained in this study would be useful in water stress studies which can be used for irrigation scheduling and yield prediction.