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Subject: Agricultural Physics and Meteorology × Author: Ramanpreet Kaur × End date: 2023 × Start date: 2021 × Type: Thesis ×
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    Estimation of water content in maize (Zea mays L.) crop using beta radiation
    (Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Ramanpreet Kaur; Sharma, Rajeev Kumar
    A field experiment was set up in split-plot design to use the beta radiations for estimating the water content (WC) of maize (Zea mays L.). Maize was grown having three nitrogen contents i.e. 90 kg ha-1 (N1), 120 kg ha-1 (N2) and 150 kg ha-1 (N3), and each was replicated thrice. 204Tl and 60Co have been used as radioactive sources with 0.766 MeV and 0.316 MeV as end point energies. Logarithmic relative intensity versus thickness were plotted for the fresh and dry state of maize leaves for all treatments, and mass attenuation coefficient (µm) was determined to be used to evaluate WC. It was observed that µm is more for dry leaves than for fresh leaves. Maximum WC was found in N1 followed by N2 and minimum is in N3. The obtained values of WC by using beta attenuation are found in good agreement with the direct weighing method and comparable with relative leaf water content. The index of stress degree day was evaluated and found minimum for N3 treatment. Also, the highest grain yield was obtained for N3 treatment. The study revealed that increasing Nitrogen content can reduce stress due to more temperature and less irrigation. Considering the results, it was inferred that N3 treatment would be best management intervention for maize cultivation. Beta radiations was found useful for estimation of WC and can effectively be used in irrigation scheduling for saving water.