Impact of Fertilization and Irrigation on the Correlation between the Soil Plant Analysis Development Value and Yield of Maize

The degree of nitrogen (N) supply in maize under nonirrigated and irrigated conditions was measured using a Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) 502 portable chlorophyll meter for 4 years. The lowest readings were obtained from a plot that has not been fertilized for 23 years. The highest SPAD value in the nonirrigated treatments was obtained in 2004, whereas the lowest was measured in the drought year of 2007. In the irrigated treatments, there was a closer correlation between fertilization and SPAD values during the examined 4 years. As the result of fertilization, the average increase of SPAD values in the irrigated plots was greater than in the nonirrigated plots. The result of irrigation on SPAD values was significant every year (P 0.001), with the largest increase in the drought year of 2003. In the nonirrigated treatments, fertilization and grain yield had a weak correlation, whereas in the irrigated treatments the correlation between the two variables was strong.