Global Maize Project in México: Cd. Obregón

IPNI-2013-MEX-GM50

16 Apr 2014

2013 Annual Interpretive Summary


This intensive maize production project, initiated in 2012, is located in Cd. Obregón, State of Sonora. Maize has not been a traditional crop of this area, but some climate change models indicate that a temperature increase in this region will make growing wheat, the most important crop currently grown in the region, unfavorable and could favor maize crop growth. Concerns over limited water supplies suggest that more efficient use of water through a combination of conservation agriculture and drip irrigation is a requisite of a sustainably intensive alternative. The experimental treatments comprised a complete factorial arrangement of two irrigation methods (furrow and drip), two tillage systems (conventional and conservation), three N fertilizer application rates (0, 200 or 400 kg N/ha), and two P rates (0 or 22 kg P/ha) with three replications.

Despite a non-seasonal frost in mid-January, fairly good yields were obtained. The most striking effect was observed in the lower yields (5.7 to 8.9 t/ha) obtained under conservation tillage and furrow irrigation for almost all the NxP combinations compared to the remaining treatments (i.e., drip and conventional tillage; 8.9 to 11.2 t/ha). Further analyses are required to explain this response.