Assessing Soil Quality, Wheat Crop Yield, and Water Productivity under Condition of Deficit Irrigation

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in Egypt and all over the world. Its productivity is adversely affected by drought due to deficient irrigation to provide nutrients required for plant growth. In a field experiment, silicon foliar applications at concentrations of 0, 200, and 400 mg L⁻¹ were performed at different irrigation rates ranging from 1000 to 4000 m³ ha⁻¹ to assess water irrigation productivity and wheat crop yield in a calcareous soil under arid climate conditions. Increased irrigation rates led to a significant increase in soil nutrient dynamics, as well as in the number and weight of grains per spike, leaf area index, grain yield, straw yield, and biological yield, with the exception of the weight of 1000 grains. Spraying with sodium silicate had a significant impact on grain yield and harvest index but did not significantly impact the other traits. Furthermore, the interaction between irrigation and silicate application rates showed significance only for grain yield, the number of spikes/m², and the harvest index. Applying three times irrigation could produce the highest nutrient retention, wheat yield, and water irrigation productivity. No significance was observed between 3000 m³ ha⁻¹ and 4000 m³ ha⁻¹ irrigation, indicating a saving of 25% of applied irrigation water. It can be concluded that applying irrigation at 3000 m³ ha⁻¹ could be a supplemental irrigation strategy. High wheat grain yield can be achieved under deficit irrigation (3000 m³ ha⁻¹) on the northwestern coast of Egypt with an arid climate by spraying crops with sodium silicate at a rate of 400 mg L⁻¹.