Abstract            Volume:12  Issue-5  Year-2024         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

The growth and development of maize are limited by over or under-application of irrigation water and nutrients, resulting in lower yield and water productivity. Due to these, a field experiment was conducted at Ambo Agricultural Research Center Farm Site from 2021-2023 to evaluate the effects of nitrogen and allowable soil moisture depletion levels on the yield, yield components, water productivity, and economic return of furrow irrigated maize production. The experiment was a two-factor factorial experiment arranged in an randomize complete block design with split-plot arrangement. The two factors were the percentage of FAO-recommended allowable soil moisture depletion levels (80 %, 100 % and 120 %) and five nitrogen levels (0 Kg/ha, 69 Kg/ha, 92 Kg/ha, 115 Kg/ha, and 138 Kg/ha). The two-year data of fruit yield, yield components and water productivity were subjected to analysis of variance using SAS 9.4 software with significance level p≤ 0.05. least significant difference test was applied for statistically significant parameters to compare means among the treatments. The analysis results revealed that 120 % FAO recommended allowable soil moisture depletion and 92 Kg/ha nitrogen levels were the best results. In the case of economic analysis, 100 % FAO-recommended allowable soil moisture depletion and 138 Kg/ha nitrogen levels are economically feasible results. Therefore, we conclude from the above results that 100 % FAO recommended allowable soil moisture depletion level (55 %) and 138 Kg/ha nitrogen level are the best practice in the study area.

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