Maize cultivation has a great potential in Russia with the current area under crop of 2.5 million ha and the prospective grain yield of 2.38 t/ha by 2015. The main reason for unstable yield of maize grain in Russia is water shortage in arid climate conditions of steppe zone. An author gives an overview of maize cultivation techniques in arid areas including fertilization, different irrigation methods, irrigation norms and regimes, irrigation machinery, as well as maize cultivars suitable for dry climate conditions. Effects of irrigation rate and fertilization on productivity of maize hybrid Povolzhskii 20 SV were studied in the production enterprise "Lider" of the Volgograd region in 2010. The maximal grain yield of 6.65 t/ha was achieved by applying irrigation rate of 3600 m 3/ha and 220:100:60 kg of NPK/ha.
