How to achieve impressive maize yields every year with drip irrigation?
IPSO and Tiberiu Nagy invited 50 farmers from the Arad area, where Mr Nagy's farm is located, to harvest drip-irrigated maize and to draw conclusions about the performance of the Rivulis Irrigation system, sold in Romania by IPSO.
In November 2016, at the end of a year of contrasts in terms of rainfall, we could see how southern Romania was deprived of rainfall between July and August and the west of the country received excess rainfall of up to 500 mm during the maize growing season.
Under these conditions, the non-irrigated maize on Mr Nagy's farm yielded an average of 11 tonnes/ha and the 23 ha drip irrigated maize plot had a yield of 17.6 tonnes/ha calculated at 15% moisture.
The drip irrigation system aims to deliver every day the amount of water lost through evapotranspiration. In this way, high humidity is constantly maintained within the irrigated plot, creating a micro-climate favourable to pollination and the development of the water-logged plant.
The conclusion was that even in a rainy year, the contribution of the drip irrigation system is obvious and for the future the extension of the irrigated area is a priority.
