Drip Irrigation and Compost Applications Improved the Growth, Productivity, and Water Use Efficiency of Some Varieties of Bread Wheat

In hyper-arid and arid zones, management of crop water requirements is considered a vital component for sustaining crop production. The efficiency of the irrigation method and the application of many kinds of organic matter are practices that should be followed in Egypt to maximize the use of irrigation water. Two field experiments were conducted during the two successive winter seasons of 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 to study the effect of drip irrigation systems and of several types of compost on yield and yield attributes of four cultivars of wheat in newly reclaimed sandy soils. Studied factors were irrigation levels based on the amount of water evapotranspiration (ET) (I₁, I₂, I₃) and the application of compost types (Com₁, Com₂ and Com₃) on four bread wheat cultivars. The parameters measured at each irrigation level were: heading date (day), plant height (cm²), number of spikes/m², number of grains/spike, 1000-grain weight (g), grain yield (t/fed.), Biological yield (kg/fed.) and harvest index (%). The farmyard manure (Com₃) gave the maximum values under irrigation shortages, reflected in producing the maximum values for traits measured in the 2020/2021 season as compared to (Com₁) or (Com₂) applications, which scored lower values for the traits for the different cultivars for wheat. The interaction (I₁, I₂) × Com₃ × (Mis₁, Mis₂) led to a significant increase during both seasons for all the yield and yield components studied. A drip irrigation system at the level of 80% of ET and application of Com₃ is recommended to optimize wheat productivity from the unit area. The savings in water irrigation would allow expansion of the cultivated area to decrease the gap between local crop production and local requirements.