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Irrigation by crop

Irrigation for maize

Rabi maize is the crop that needs irrigating, and its rows are close — so one drip lateral serves two of them rather than one each.

Suits it best

Drip irrigation

Usual row spacing

0.6 m

Water need

4–7 mm/day

Water need is the crop’s daily use at full cover over Dec–Feb, at weather stations across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — the spread is the season and the place.

Why drip irrigation

Telangana’s micro-irrigation scheme lists maize for inline drip. Rows are only 60 cm apart, so one lateral serves two of them.

Inline drip laterals 1.2 m apart, one between each pair of rows.

What actually changes the answer

  • Rows 60 cm apart take one lateral between each pair, laterals 1.2 m apart — about 3,370 m of pipe an acre.
  • Maize is most sensitive to water stress from tasselling to early grain fill. That is the irrigation never to skip.
  • Kharif maize is mostly rainfed. Laid for the rabi crop, the laterals come up at harvest — roll them rather than leave them under the stubble.

How much pipe would maize need?

Put in your acres and the estimator works it out against this crop’s layout, then prices the parts from our own catalogue at today’s prices.

Estimate my system

What you’d be buying

Drip IrrigationLDPE Pipes

Spacings and layouts on this page are published package-of-practice and state-scheme figures; water need is FAO-56’s crop-coefficient method on published Telangana and Andhra Pradesh weather records. Neither is a design for your field — soil, slope, water source and pump all move them. Send us your crop, acres and pump details and we’ll confirm the sizing before you commit.

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Where these numbers come from

  • PJTSAU (opens in a new tab)

    Telangana’s state agricultural university — the package of practices crop spacings in the state follow.

  • TNAU Agritech Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Crop-wise spacing, water requirement and drip layout references for southern India.

  • ICAR (opens in a new tab)

    Indian Council of Agricultural Research — crop agronomy and regional package-of-practices.

  • Telangana Micro Irrigation Project (opens in a new tab)

    The state scheme’s guidelines: which crops go on inline drip, online drip or sprinklers, and the spacings it funds.

  • FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56 (opens in a new tab)

    The reference method for crop evapotranspiration and crop coefficients that daily water figures derive from.