Production of maize using high density sowing and subsurface drip irrigation

Maize is the main staple food in the Mexican diet and is also the most important irrigated crop. However, water shortage is very serious in Mexico, and food security cannot be maintained without irrigation. To address this problem, the effect of maize density sowing was evaluated using a subsurface drip irrigation system. There were no differences in forage and grain yield of the hybrid Tigre (p > 0.05), among treatments (T): T1) 0.75 m row spacing and 90 000 seeds ha(-1); T2) 0.75 row spacing and 133 000 seeds ha(-1); T3) 0.4-1.1 m alternate row spacing and 133 000 seeds ha(-1). Mean forage dry matter was 23.6 Mg ha(-1) and grain yield was 14.6 Mg ha(-1 ). Although leaf area index was not different among treatments after silking, the number of ears per plant was higher for T1 (1.1) compared to T2 and T3 treatments (0.9; p <= 0.05). Forage ear percentage was higher for treatments T1 and T3 (60 and 63%) with respect to T2 (53%; p <= 0.05). Treatment T1 was suitable for maize production using minimum tillage and subsurface drip irrigation.