Irrigation effect on some quality characteristics of popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.).

Aims: This study was conducted under Hatay, Turkey ecological conditions in the second crop season and aimed to determine the effect of irrigation numbers and amounts on some quality characteristics of popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.) Methods and Results: Antcin 98 popcorn cultivar was cultivated in Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Research Area in the second crop season of 2015 under five irrigation managements as follows: (I1) 12 times (1757 mm), (I2) 8 times (1449 mm), (I3) 6 times (1148 mm), (I4) 5 times (989 mm) and (I5) 4 times (800 mm). After harvest, quality analysis were carried out with 4 repetitions for each irrigation treatment and kernel size, crude protein, crude oil and crude ash ratios were determined. It’s revealed that all the parameters investigated significantly affected by irrigation managements. According to the results; the lowest grain size (89.00 grains 10 g^-1) and the highest crude protein ratio (10.59%) were obtained from the I5 treatment, while the highest crude ash (2.04%) and crude oil (5.74%) ratios were obtained from the I4 treatment. It was determined that as the number of irrigation decreased, the crude protein ratio increased, the crude ash and crude oil ratios increased to a certain level and then decreased. With the correlation analysis performed, significant and positive relationships were determined between kernel size and crude protein (r = 0.686) and between crude oil and crude ash (r = 0.852). Conclusions: The results showed that excessive irrigations cannot increase kernel size, which directly affects the popping volume, which is one of the most important quality criteria of popcorn, However, the nutritional values can be changed by applying different irrigation managements. It can be concluded that under similar growing and climatic conditions, popcorn can be produced with 5 irrigations and a total of 989 mm of irrigation water. Significance and Impact of the Study: The study revealed the effects of different irrigation numbers and amounts on some quality characteristics of popcorn grown under second crop season conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]