In light of the water scarcity for most Iraqi agricultural areas, especially after the decline in the water level of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to nearly a third. Solutions become necessary to improve water-crop productivity and achieve the sustainable cultivation of strategic crops through using soil amendments, which reduces the soil water loss. Therefore, this research was conducted at, Al-Raeeid Research Station, Baghdad, Iraq, to study the effect of adding compost fertilizer (7500 kg ha-¹) and perlite (250 kg ha-¹) to wheat and barley crops that were irrigated with two irrigation levels (when exhausting 30% and 50% of the available soil water). The results showed that wheat growth and productivity decreased with increasing water stress of 50%, while opposite results were obtained from the barley crop. The wheat crop showed more sensitivity to the 50% level, but this level did not appear stressful for the barley crop. Also, adding compost and perlite improved wheat growth and yield indicators, which showed a greater response to compost, while barley responded to perlite more than to compost. This study concluded that the combination of compost and irrigation level of 30% presented the highest water-wheat productivity. In comparison, the combination of perlite and irrigation level of 50% presented the highest water-barley productivity.