| Summary: | Agriculture in a water-limited environment is critically important for today and for the future. This research evaluates the impact of deficit irrigation in different planting methods on the physio-morphological traits, grain yield and WUE of maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.). The experiment was carried out in 2015 and 2016, consisting of three planting methods (i.e., BBF, SNF, and DWF) and four irrigation levels (i.e., I<sub>10D</sub>: irrigation once in ten days, I<sub>40</sub>: irrigation at 40% DASM, I<sub>50</sub>: irrigation at 50% DASM, and I<sub>60</sub>: irrigation at 60% DASM). The results reveal that varying degrees of water stress due to planting methods and irrigation levels greatly influenced the maize physio-morphological traits and yield attributes. The combined effect of DWF + I<sub>50</sub> benefited the maize in terms of higher leaf area, RWC, SPAD values, CGR, and LAD, followed by the SNF method at 60 DAS. As a result, DWF + I<sub>50</sub> and SNF + I<sub>50</sub> had higher 100 grain weight (30.5 to 31.8 g), cob weight (181.4 to 189.6 g cob<sup>−1</sup>) and grain yield (35.3% to 36.4%) compared to other treatments. However, the reduction in the number of irrigations (24.0%) under SNF + I<sub>50</sub> resulted in a 34% water saving. Thus, under a water-limited situation in semi-arid tropics, the practice of the SNF method + I<sub>50</sub> could be an alternative way to explore the physio-morphological benefits in maize.
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