Effect of Different Deficit Irrigation Managements in Furrow and Tape Drip Methods on Potato Yield and Water Productivity

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

The water crisis and the increase in population necessitate improvement of efficiency of water use. Application of new methods of irrigation and irrigation management is a way to optimize the use of available water resources. In order to study effect of different deficit irrigation managements of potato in furrow and tape drip irrigation methods on water use productivity and yield of potato, an experiment was performed at Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Research Farm of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center in 2013. The experiment was based on randomized complete blocks with split-split plot design with three replications. The furrow and tape drip irrigation  methods were  allocated to the main plots, while the two potato cultivars were in the sub-plots and four deficit irrigation managements including FI(100%), RDI80(80%), RDI65(65%) of available water depletion (AWD), and partial root-zone drying (PRD) during full growth period were in the secondary sub-plots. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant (P≤0.01) differences between deficit irrigation managements for tubers yield, tubers percentage of dry matter, number of tuber per plant and water productivity. Drip irrigation in comparison with furrow irrigation resulted in reduction of irrigation water amount (40%), increase in yield (10%), agronomic water productivity (43%), and economical water productivity (40%). The highest economical water productivity (73240 Rials/m3) belonged to partial root-zone drying (PRD). Due to the limitation of water resources, the best suggestion for optimizing water use is using tape irrigation and deficit irrigation  management through partial root-zone drying (PRD) for producing potato.

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