Impact of drip irrigation and tailored fertigation scheduling on yield and water use efficiency of high-density summer sweet corn

Water and nutrients plays an important role for optimum growth and yield of sweetcorn under semi-arid conditions. During the growing seasons of 2019–20 and 2020–21, an experimental trial was conducted at Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, to examine the responsiveness of high-density summer sweet corn to drip irrigation and fertigation regimes. The treatment comprises of three drip irrigation levels (0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 Epan throughout the crop growth period) and four fertigation levels (100 and 125% recommended dose of nitrogen and potassium [RDNK] according to recommendation and crop coefficient curve). Results revealed that growth, cob and green fodder yields of sweet corn increased significantly with increasing irrigation levels up to 1.0 Epan combined with fertigation at 125% RDNK applied according to the crop coefficient curve (I 3 F 4 ) during both years of experimentation. Total crop evapotranspiration (ETc) ranged from 182.3 to 278.1 mm and 170.3 to 245.3 mm across irrigation treatments during 2019–20 and 2020–21, respectively. Crop water use efficiency (CWUE) was significantly higher under the lowest irrigation level (0.6 Epan) compared to 0.8 and 1.0 Epan. Crop coefficient (Kc) values at 1.0 Epan were estimated as 0.44, 0.82, 0.96 and 0.79 during 0–20, 21–40, 41–60 DAS and from 61 DAS to harvest, respectively, in 2019–20, and 0.45, 0.80, 0.95 and 0.79 during the corresponding stages in 2020–21. The physical optimum water requirement was 594.6 and 469.5 mm, producing yields of 13,393 and 12,752 kg ha −1 during 2019–20 and 2020–21, respectively. The economic optimum was slightly lower at 585.7 and 464.6 mm, resulting in yields of 13,389 and 12,749 kg ha −1 during the respective years. The study concludes that drip irrigation at 1.0 Epan combined with fertigation at 125% RDNK applied as per crop coefficient curve is optimal for maximizing high-density summer sweet corn productivity under semi-arid conditions.