Precision Irrigation and Its Impact on Water Use Efficiency of Apricot

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD in Irrigation, Head of Soil, Water, and Industries Group, Bureau of Performance Assessment, Ministry of Jihad-e Agriculture;

2 Research Assistant Prof., PhD, Irrigation and Drainage Research Department, Agricultural Engineering Research Institute;

Abstract

Accurate determination of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is an important factor in precision irrigation, irrigation planning, and water productivity. The present research aimed to study the impact of the meteorological data based (daily and long period) for calculation of ETc on apricot (Aybatan variety), irrigation planning and consumptive water. The study was conducted in Karaj region for two years based on randomized blocks design where three irrigation treatments (I1, I2, I3) were applied and each treatment consisted of three blocks with four replications. In I1, daily evapotranspiration was calculated based on daily weather data collected by using a µMETOS weather station system. In I2, calculation was based on long-term climatic data, and in I3, irrigation was based on farmers’ practices and was used as the control. According to the results, water use efficiency (WUE) was 3.33 kg/m3 in I1 and 1.99 and 1.29 kg/m3 in I2 and I3, respectively. Variance analysis results indicated that there was significant difference (at one percent level) in yield and WUE between the treatments and different blocks. Accordingly, comparison of the average yield and WUE by Duncan´s test indicated significant difference (at one percent level) between yield and water use efficiency of I1 and the other treatments. Indeed, in drip irrigation method, the maximum yield of apricot occurred where crop water requirement was based on daily weather data and resulted in 13% and 67% increase in, respectively, yield and WUE compared to long period weather data. It was concluded that applying real time weather data for planning irrigation management and scheduling was recommendable.          

Keywords

Journal of Water Research in Agriculture
Volume 27, Issue 1
April 2013
Pages 41-52

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics