2022 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 79
Irrigation is essential for agricultural production in drylands, but improper water management such as over-irrigation and poor drainage has caused salinization. In India, although border irrigation (BI) is widely adapted, the high salinity of irrigation water and tendency of over-irrigation have promoted salinization, the area of salt affected soils extend to approximately 6.7 million ha. Water saving and improved drainage are effective in mitigating salinization. Still, it is difficult for farmers to introduce drip and/or sub-surface drainage because these require high initial and maintenance costs. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce low-cost measures that farmers could easily implement.
Permanent skip furrow irrigation (PSFI) is an easy and low-cost water saving method which can save water by irrigating every alternate furrow instead of all furrows, and the irrigated furrow is fixed. Cut-soiler is a low-cost shallow sub-surface drainage technology which can make drain hole at 50 cm depth for burying the crop residue by pulling the tractor attachment. In this study, we evaluated the how much is saved by PFSI under drainage conditions implemented with the cut-soiler.
A Field experiment was conducted using mustard (October to April) during the dry season in 2019 and 2020. Test plots (30 m square) were set up without drainage and 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 m construction interval of Cut-soilar. In each plot, BI, every furrow irrigation (EFI) and PSFI was applied with 10 m width respectively, and yield of mustard was measured. Totally applied depth of EFI and PSFI were approximately 90% and 45% of BI, respectively.
The results showed that the yield was highest in the plot with Cut-soiler at 2.5 m interval, 5 and 19% increases compared with no construction in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In terms of irrigation method, the yield in EFI and PSFI decreased by 7% and 23%, respectively, in 2019 as compared to BI. On the other hand, the yield increased by 46% in EFI and 4% in PSFI as compared to BI in 2020. Although PSFI saved around 50%, there is a possible risk of reduction in yield. Therefore, applying PSFI, supplementary irrigation should be conducted according to the growth condition.
