Print Page

Increased Water Use Efficiency in Maize Production

03.1 Better Water Use Efficiency PICTURE

A healthy, fast-growing maize crop, fully supported by fertilizer, makes more efficient use of water to maximize yields.

Yara’s crop nutrient recommendations help the crop make more productive use of water through encouraging strong growth and high yields leading to more transpiration and less drainage and direct evaporation.

For example:

Early fertilizer use – including the use of phosphorus and zinc – encourages rooting, ensuring better extraction of water from the soil over the life of the plant.
Potassium and magnesium are key nutrients essential for photosynthate partitioning between the shoot and root as a result of their central role in phloem loading. By minimizing deficiencies of either, root growth is not compromised.
Well balanced nutrition especially of nitrogen and potassium during vegetative growth, accelerates canopy closure and delays leaf senescence both of which reduce bare soil evaporation by shading the soil for a longer period.
Potassium (via its osmotic function) and nitrogen (as a result of the internal regulation of hormones and xylem pH) are important for efficient and optimal regulation and control of CO₂ uptake and water loss through the stomata.
Finally, by using comprehensive, tailored, fertilizer programs that ensure no nutrient is lacking, yield is increased, thereby producing more grain for each mm of rainfall.

Yara recognizes that this improved ‘water use efficiency’ is increasingly important given scarcity of water supply. Indeed, with 2.8 billion people living in regions with insufficient water, the importance of making best use of this limited resource is fundamental to sustainable crop production.