Improving Maize Production in Arid Regions: Evaluating Drought and Salinity Tolerance - IMPARES

Main Objective: To evaluate the maize germplasm to drought and salinity stress under marginal environments

Specific objectives are to evaluate:

• The effect of irrigation on yield and yield components of maize genotypes grown under marginal environments.
• The effect of salinity on yield on maize.
• The water use efficiency of 6 maize genotypes grown under drip irrigation in marginal environments. 
• Calibration and validation of crop simulation models (APSIM and DSSAT) for the 6 maize genotypes. 
• Conduct long-term simulation on the performance of maize genotypes under projected climate change scenarios for the UAE.

Experimental design and treatments:

Experimental design: Split plot design

1. Main plot: Irrigation (ET0, ET0.5)
2. Sub-plot: Maize genotypes (Var1=WE2109, Var2=WE3106, Var3=WE5117, Var4=WE6103, Var5=WE6106, Var6=Check)
3. Salinity (SAL1 = 0.2 dS/m, SAL2 = 10 dS/m)