Effect of Sprinkler and Basin Irrigation Systems on Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Canola Crop

An experiment was conducted to assess the yield potential and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) of Canola crop grown under sprinkler and basin irrigation techniques on a clay loam soil. The experiment was designed by the Principles of Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two treatments, viz. T1 (sprinkler irrigation method) and T2 (basin irrigation method), replicated four times. Marginal quality water with Electrical Conductivity (ECw) of 1.83 dS/m and pH of 8.2 was used for irrigation. The crop yield obtained under T1 and T2 treatments were 1,407.9 and 1,123.8 kg ha-1, respectively; 20% more yield was observed under T1 treatment. In the given order of treatments (T1 and T2), the Canola crop used 3,605 and 4,453 m3 ha-1 of irrigation water, hence, 19% water saving was achieved by T1 treatment. The WUE attained under T1 and T2 treatments were 0.39 and 0.25 kg m-3 respectively; therefore, 35.8% WUE was enhanced under T1 treatment. While comparing the agronomic parameters of the crop under the two procedures, all the observed parameters (plant height, number of branches plant-1, number of pods plant-1, pod length, number of seeds pod-1 and biomass plant-1) were superior in case of T1 treatment than T2 treatment. The soil Electrical Conductivity (ECse), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), and Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) increased, and pH decreased under both the treatments, however, the maximum increase in ECse, SAR and ESP, and maximum decrease in pH occurred under T2 treatment. Statistical analysis showed that the crop yield, irrigation water use, WUE, ECse, pH, SAR, ESP, and all the agronomic parameters differed significantly (p < 0.05) under the two treatments.