Growth and Performance of Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.) Genotypes under Various Irrigation Regimes with and without Biogenic Silica Amendment in Arid Southwest US

Guar is a potential crop that can be grown as a forage or as a seed crop in arid to semi-arid regions due to its low water requirements and tolerance to heat. Optimizing irrigation water use is important for making alternative crops such as guar a sustainable option. Amendments such as biogenic silica, a sedimentary rock from a biogenic source such as fossils, may help plants tolerate water stress due to reduced irrigation. The objective of the current study was to evaluate seed yield and attribute components and agronomic and physiological parameters for four guar genotypes (Matador, Kinman, Lewis, and NMSU 15-G1) under five drip irrigation regimes (I(1)-normal irrigation, I(2)-no irrigation at 75% pod formation, I(3)-no irrigation at 50% and 75% pod formation, I(4)-terminate irrigation at flowering, and I(5)-terminate irrigation at flowering + biogenic silica amendment) at Las Cruces in southern New Mexico, USA, from 2016 to 2018. On average, the I(1) irrigation regime produced the highest guar seed yield (2715 kg ha(−1)) followed by I(5) (2469 kg ha(−1)) from 2016 to 2018. As compared to the I(1) regime, the I(2) and I(3) regimes resulted in a 20.8% and 23.4% decline in guar seed yield, respectively, on average from 2016 to 2018. The results suggest that the addition of biogenic silica might help to improve guar seed yield under reduced irrigation conditions and can produce comparable yields with an average of 300 mm of irrigation during the growing season in the southern New Mexico region of the Southwest US.