This study was conducted to evaluate the management of smart irrigation in grain maize production (KSC 715 cultivar) at the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII) located in Karaj, Iran, in the year 2020. Irrigation was performed based on 40% moisture discharge farm capacity and was compared with irrigation based on long-term meteorological statistics that have become common in the field (drip irrigation system, type strip, and determining the irrigation time based on the apparent reaction of the plant). The experimental results showed that under the conditions of smart irrigation management, sensitive phenological stages of the plant occur earlier, and the field is ready to be harvested approximately one month earlier; moreover, 35% of irrigation water consumption can be saved. Water consumption decreased from 8839.5 to 5675.67 m3/ha; in addition, grain yield and water productivity decreased. Although the moisture stress applied in the intelligent irrigation system completed the plant phenology period faster and due to earlier harvest, irrigation water consumption was decreased by 35%, water productivity was reduced. Finally, it seems that by adjusting the drought stress application time in more tolerant stages of maize growth in future studies and experiments, it will be possible to decrease irrigation water consumption while increasing the physical productivity of water.

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To investigate hydropriming and transplanting effect on biomass and nutritional content of forage sorghum, a two-year field experiment was conducted in the semiarid condition of Iran. Experimental factor consisted of planting dates (July-1st, July-11th, July-23rd, August-1st) in the main plot and the factorial combination of planting methods (direct planting, hydropriming, transplanting) with cultivars (Speedfeed and Pegah) in the subplot. Planting date postponement from 1st of July to 10th of July, 23rd of July, and 1st of August, respectively, caused 16.1, 32.5 and 47.2% reduction in dry matter yield (DMY) and 7.4, 20.2, and 35.1% reduction in water use efficiency of DMY production (WUEDMY). Hydropriming and transplanting produced 23.6 and 22.4% more DMY, 24.5 and 21.8% more WUEDMY, 24 and 16.3% more crude protein yield, 22.7 and 20.9% more digestible dry matter (DDM) yield, and 22.2 and 20.1% more metabolic energy (ME) yield, compared to the direct planting. Hydropriming compared to direct planting caused 29% increase in plant growth rate and utilized growing season more productively than transplanting for DMY production. Conclusively, hydropriming and transplanting compensated for delay in planting through enhancing and accelerating germination and plant development but, applying hydropriming on Speedfeed and planting in July-1st caused the highest DMY, WUEDMY and the yield of nutritive parameters.

Water scarcity is a major obstacle to forage crop production in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to improve food security in these areas, it is imperative to employ suitable irrigation management techniques and identify drought-tolerant cultivars. A 2-year field experiment (2019–2020) was conducted in a semi-arid region of Iran to assess the impact of different irrigation methods and water deficit stress on forage sorghum cultivars’ yield, quality, and irrigation water-use efficiency (IWUE). The experiment involved two irrigation methods, i.e., drip (DRIP) and furrow (FURW), and three irrigation regimes supplied 100% (I100), 75% (I75), and 50% (I50) of the soil moisture deficit. In addition, two forage sorghum cultivars (hybrid Speedfeed and open-pollinated cultivar Pegah) were evaluated. This study revealed that the highest dry matter yield (27.24 Mg ha−1) was obtained under I100 × DRIP, whereas the maximum relative feed value (98.63%) was achieved under I50 × FURW. Using DRIP resulted in higher forage yield and IWUE compared to FURW, and the superiority of DRIP over FURW increased with the severity of the water deficit. The principal component analysis indicated that, as drought stress severity increased across all irrigation methods and cultivars, forage yield decreased, while quality increased. Plant height and leaf-to-stem ratio were found to be suitable indicators for comparing forage yield and quality, respectively, and they showed a negative correlation between the quality and quantity of forage. DRIP improved forage quality under I100 and I75, while FURW exhibited a better feed value under the I50 regime. Altogether, in order to achieve the best possible forage yield and quality while minimizing water usage, it is recommended to grow the Pegah cultivar and compensate for 75% of soil moisture deficiency using drip irrigation.