Efficiency of water and radiation use in maize, sunflower and soybean, in the oriental region of la pampa, Argentina

Abstract

Efficiency in the water (WUE) or radiation (RUE) can use be represented by the amount of dry matter per unit of resource captured. Higher productivity of a crop can be achieved by increasing resource capture and/or bigger efficiency in its use. The work consisted of the study of the WUE and the RUE in three summer crops (maize, sunflower, and soybeans). Assays were performed in Catriló, La Pampa, Argentina, in the 2005/2010 period. Five campaigns were analyzed resulting maize, Zea mays, as the most efficient crop in water and radiation solar use. However, when drought conditions occur, sunflower, Helianthus annus, became the more efficient crop for the use of both resources. The soybean, Glycine max, in all analyzed maturity groups (MG) did not reach the WUE achieved by corn and sunflower. From the energy perspective, corn was the crop that produced the greatest amount of photoassimilates to achieve the performance of each campaign, followed by sunflower. It was concluded that for the studied period, both crops differ positively from soybeans, thus we can assert that they are the best performing in the semi-arid pampas.