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INTEGRATED IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE MANAGEMENT FOR CITRUS ORCHARDS IN VERTISOLS
Author(s) -
Panigrahi Pravukalyan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.1870
Subject(s) - vertisol , drainage , irrigation , environmental science , surface irrigation , surface runoff , watertable control , drip irrigation , hydrology (agriculture) , agroforestry , agronomy , water resource management , soil water , soil salinity , biology , geology , ecology , soil science , geotechnical engineering
Efficient irrigation and drainage are a prerequisite for sustainable citriculture. Citriculture in vertisols often faces the twin problem of waterlogging in the rainy season and water shortage during the post‐rainy period, leading to suboptimal productivity and decline of citrus orchards in central India. With this in mind, the integrated impact of irrigation methods (drip and basin) and surface drainage (parallel trenches) was studied in citrus orchards of the region. Drip irrigation (DI) produced 23% higher fruit yield than basin irrigation (BI) under drainage. Drainage was an important consideration for both DI and BI. However, drainage was much more important for BI than DI to achieve higher fruit yield. Conjunctive use of DI and drainage (DI D ) reduced the soil and nutrient losses through runoff and produced 90% higher yield with better quality fruit, using 30% less irrigation water (171% improvement in irrigation water use efficiency) than BI without drainage. Citrus production with DI D was also found to be economically superior to other treatments, generating more net return (INR 225 000 ha −1 yr −1 ) 1 with higher benefit–cost ratio (5.2). Overall, the study demonstrates that adoption of DI D could be a viable option for commercial citriculture on clay soil in water‐scarce central India. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.