ontario sugar beet growers - Atrium - University of Guelph

Fig. 20. Rainfall accumulations in years 2003,2004 and 2005 (driest).
I
Ridgetown Rain Comparison
CONCLUSIONS:
Under a very dry growing season, 2005, phenomenal increases in seed corn inbred yields
were obtained through the use of drip imgation. The drip tape was placed along side of
the corn stalks and imgated 5 times applying different levels of water. Yields of the early
maturing inbred, Hyland 28-1 1 showed outstanding yield increases of 275% while even
greater increases in shelled corn yields (476%) were experienced in the later maturing
seed corn inbred. Hyland T22-7B. The plant heights under drip imgation were
significantly increased by 45.5 and 62.8% respectively between the early and later
maturing seed corn inbreds. Plants were considerably more vigorous, foliage was greener,
and the lengths of the cobs were increased resulting in more kernels per row in both of the
inbreds tested. The cob widths were also increased resulting in more rows per cob, more
so in the later maturing seed corn inbred. Apparently, slowly applied water through drip
tape, penetrated more deeply into the soil than did the overhead imgation technique in
trial 1 with more water filtering deeper into the soil profile at the 10 and 20cm depths.
This was clearly viewed using a Capacitance probe. This technique of timing irrigation
events using a C-probe provides the necessary information for a grower to quickly make
the appropriate water management decisions throughout the season.
This trial demonstrated that what may be considered a normal amount of water to be
added, using the water budget approach (1X rate), although resulting in a significant
increase in yield, could be improved as was shown with the 2x irrigation quantities added.
There needs to be developed a method to correctly indicate what is an optimum amount
and timing of irrigation throughout the summer.