Alternative Techniques of Irrigation Water Management for Improving Crop Water Productivity

Abstract

The pressure on water resources is due to different factors that affect agricultural development for food security. Large agricultural lands are not irrigated because of limited water resources and poor irrigation water management. This results in poor crop water productivity. Therefore, this paper focused on finding alternative techniques of irrigation water management to solve the problems of poor irrigation water management for crop water productivity for diverse crop species. Although there are different options for saving and managing irrigation water to improve crop water productivity, deficit irrigation in different mechanisms, drip irrigation, pitcher irrigation and surface mulch were some of the innovative techniques of irrigation water management. Accordingly, stage-wise deficit irrigation was better than deficit irrigation throughout the growing season for improving yield productivity. Considering the furrow irrigation system, alternate furrow irrigation is better to save water and improve crop water productivity than fixed furrow irrigation. On the other hand, drip irrigation is better performed to improve crop water productivity than conventional irrigation systems. Furthermore, pitcher irrigation system and deficit irrigation with mulch had better performance than conventional furrow irrigation to save irrigation water and improve crop water productivity. Therefore, the alternative techniques of irrigation water management to improve crop water productivity are the best option for food security in areas of water scarcity. Particularly, deficit irrigation, alternate irrigation, drip irrigation with mulching and pitcher irrigation are alternatively recommended for implementation in the areas of water scarcity for sustainable development.

Integrating soil mulching and subsurface irrigation for optimizing deficit irrigation effectiveness as a water-rationing strategy in tomato production

“…To cope with these challenges and sustain irrigated agriculture, requires increasing water use efficiency via conscious irrigation techniques and optimizing soil conditions, as well as keeping irrigation water from being lost during crop irrigation steps. Deficit irrigation (DI) was applied as an effective irrigation water-saving technique adopted by earlier researchers (Alkhasha et al, 2019;Yang, 2022;Asres, 2023;Khedr et al, 2023). Within the range of 40% to 80% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc), DI irrigation was applied experimentally in tomato production in earlier studies (Zhang et al, 2017;Alordzinu et al, 2022, Alghamdi et al, 2023Khalifa, 2023).…”

Enhancing Productivity and Improving Nutritional Quality of Subtropical and Temperate Leafy Vegetables in Tropical Greenhouses and Indoor Farming Systems

“…Using DI strategy, the crop is exposed to a mild drought stress level either during the whole growing period or during a particular growth stage [93]. Studies have reported that DI strategies present significant opportunities for conserving water without sacrificing crop yield, or with only a minor reduction in yield, while also improving the quality of the produce [94][95][96][97]. Using aeroponic farming systems, irrigation durations and frequencies could be manipulated to simulate DI [24,25].…”

Effects of different management practices on the growth and yield of corn

“…Corn production requires significant amounts of water (Henry and Krutz, 2016) to improve yield (Spencer et al, 2019), while water scarcity is becoming more serious globally as a result of climate change and population increase (Wang et al, 2021). One of the efforts to increase corn productivity is by irrigation water management (Asres, 2023).…”

“…Drip irrigation can effectively improve the growth, yield, and WUE of corn (Liu et al, 2022). Drip irrigation is better performed to improve crop water productivity than conventional irrigation systems (Asres, 2023).…”