Author(s)

A. A. Alderfasi & A. A. AL-Owayed

Abstract

The greatest challenges facing the improvement of agriculture programs under arid and semiarid environment are those involving the provision of water. Thus, field experiments have been carried out in a split–plot design at the Agricultural Research Station, Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University. The experiments included 20 treatments, four wheat genotypes, (Yecora Rojo, West bread, KSU 102 and KSU 105) and five irrigation schedules (50, 100, 150, 200 mm) of cumulative pan evaporation CPE, as compared to traditional irrigation methods used by many farmers (weekly irrigation). The total amount of water supplied over the growing season was calculated. The data obtained clearly indicated that a gradual decrease in most of the yield and yield component characters were in line with decreasing irrigation schedules. The results also showed that no significant differences were found between irrigation schedules at 50 mm of CPE and weekly irrigation in most of the studied characters, except on biological yield, which was similar to traditional irrigation. In addition, significant differences among wheat genotypes were observed in all traits. The KSU 105 genotype ranked in the first position and surpassed the other tested genotypes. The interaction between irrigation schedules and genotypes was also significant for grain yield. Economic evaluation showed that the highest invested return per SR and net return in SR was obtained by irrigating wheat at

Keywords

wheat genotypes, arid environment, drought resistance, irrigation schedules, CPE, economic value