Effect of Water Table Level on Soybean Water Use, Growth and Yield Parameters

Abstract

Responses of soybean (Glycine max) water uptake and crop growth to four constant water table depths (30, 50, 70, and 90 cm) were studied under a controlled environment using lysimeters. Additionally, control lysimeters with irrigation and no water table were used for comparison. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used with six replications in each treatment. The results indicated that the water table depths of 30, 50, 70 and 90 cm contributed to 77, 71, 65 and 62% of soybean water use, respectively. Thus, the water use efficiency, total grain yield (g lysimeter-1) per unit water use (mm) was 0.008, 0.022, 0.018, 0.025, and 0.031 for irrigation, 30, 50, 70, and 90 cm water table depth treatments, respectively. Soybean was found to be tolerant to shallow groundwater conditions, and root mass distribution in the soil profile was significantly influenced by the presence of shallow water table depths.