Investigating the Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Irrigation Management on Yield and Yield Components of Maize

Nitrogen consumption management in the condition of water scarcity is considered as one of the most important factors in improving the maize yield. In order to investigate the effects of drought stress and nitrogen fertilizer on yield and yield, an experiment as split-plot design on completely randomized blocks with three iterations was carried out at Rasht, Iran. The main factor consisted of four irrigation levels and subfactor consisted of four nitrogen levels were considered. Empirical results have proved that in longer irrigation intervals, using more nitrogen had negative effects and caused the decrease in growth (morphological attributes), yield and yield components. The results presented that under 7 days irrigation interval condition with consumption of 240 kg of nitrogen, the highest grain yield and biological yield were obtained. In addition, there were no significant differences in yield and yield components under various treatment of using 180 and 240 kg N/ha or 7–14 days of irrigation intervals. Therefore, in order to reduce costs and use water and nitrogen optimally, utilizing more nitrogen and 7 days irrigation interval must be avoided to achieve the same yield with optimal management.