A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of deficit irrigation and furrow irrigation techniques on maize grain yield and water productivity at Mehoni Agricultural Research Center, Raya Azebo district. The experimental design was split-plot in RCBD arrangement. Three furrow irrigation techniques, Viz., alternate, fixed and conventional furrow irrigation as a main plot and two deficit irrigation levels,75% and 50% ETc and a control of 100% ETc as sub-plot were investigated. Results indicated that there were significant (P < 0.05) differences between treatments in major agronomic parameters. The highest grain yield obtained was 6.32 tons ha-1under conventional furrow irrigation (CFI) with 100% ETc and the lowest was 3.12 tons ha-1 under fixed furrow irrigation (FFI) with 50% ETc. The highest crop water productivity of 2.29 kg m-3 was obtained under alternate furrow irrigation (AFI) with 50% ETc. The interaction between AFI and 100% ETc resulted in 50% water saving for 6.96% yield reduction than CFI with 100% ETc. Hence, it is recommended as efficient technique in areas with limited water resources. The yield loss would also be compensated by irrigating additional land with the saved water.

Keywords: Irrigation level, Furrow irrigation, Crop water productivity and Maize