Water Saving Using Gated Pipes Under Some Effective Irrigation Management Practices at North Nile Delta.

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the two summer growing seasons 2009 and 2010 at the Demonstration Field for Modern Irrigation Systems at Sakha Agricultural Research Station. The main objective of this study was to find out some practical effective ways regarding saving water particularly under the present status of water shortage facing Egypt. Gated pipes as improved surface irrigation technique was used for irrigating maize and the studied irrigation practices were; traditional irrigation or every furrow irrigation (EFI-Trt.A), cutoff irrigation (Trt.B), in addition two techniques of alternative furrow irrigation either fixed (FAI-Trt.C) or nonfixed alternate furrow irrigation (EAI-Trt.D). Moreover, two methods regarding computation of irrigation water should be applied; Ibrahim (Trt.E) and Penman-Monteith (Trt.F). Obtained findings indicated that some suitable techniques could be practiced regarding water saving without significant reduction in marketable grain yield. The mean values of maize grain yield can be ranked as; 3.6, 3.4=3.4, 3.3=3.3 and 2.8 ton.fed-1 obtained under treatments; E, B, D, A, C and F, respectively. While the highest water saving of nearly 12% equaled 353 m 3 .fed-1 or about 880 million m 3 at the national level (2.5 million feddan, 1 fed= 0.42 ha) could be obtained by; using gated pipes as improved surface irrigation, laser land leveling and executing either cutoff or alternate irrigation techniques. Moreover, accurate computation of irrigation water should be applied without excess or less than the actual water needs for the growing plants and depending on the availability of climate elements. In this direction, either Ibrahim equation that mainly depending upon pan evaporation and suitable for the studied area or the FAO Penman-Monteith equation could be used in computing irrigation water.

Increasing Water Use Efficiency for Potato Under Different Irrigation Systems and Potassium Fertilizer Rates

“…The total yield is significantly affected by different irrigation systems and potassium fertilization. Results show that the gated pipes irrigation technique achieved better values of the potato yield (12.862 ton fad -1 ) than the conventional irrigation system (11.738 ton fad -1 ), and this might be due to that the pipes were a good alternative to irrigation canals, which increased the cultivated land instead of irrigation canals, and reduced the spread of weeds and diseases, (El-Hadidi et al, 2011). On the other side, Potassium considers one of the important factors for increasing potato yield because it affects the activity of many enzymes, thus, accumulating carbohydrates in tubers.…”

“…The gated pipes technique is a capable practice in improving surface irrigation (the convenient irrigation method in Egypt) and is predictable as a more effective system of surface irrigation. Using the gate pipe system provided many benefits such as demonstrating applied water more evenly and more efficiently, provided controllable, consistent, and accurate delivery of the water right, (Smith et al, 1997), good uniform delivery of irrigation water, Low energy needed, high water saving, and added about 10 % cultivated lands, (El-Hadidi et al, 2011), and simply used by low experienced workers. Goyal, (2014) informed that the irrigation application efficiency could reach up to 81% for gated pipes.…”