Abstract
Evaluation of low cost drip irrigation technology was carried out under soil and agro climatic condition of Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, on-station so as to see its performance as compared to furrow irrigation systems for increased tomato productions. Four improved tomato verities were used for the purpose as test crop. The trials were replicated four times in a randomized block design. Some parameters of tomato and water use efficiency were used to compare the performance of the two irrigation systems. There was observed difference in some parameters of tomato under the two irrigation systems. Some tomato varieties perform well under drip while other performs well under furrow. But, the overall effect showed that drip irrigation system performed better than furrow irrigation system. Relatively higher mean yield of tomato was recorded under drip irrigation systems; 44.09 ton/ha for drip as compared to 43.38 ton/ha in surface irrigation. Drip irrigation used less water than that of surface irrigation systems, thus, giving much higher water use efficiencies. It was concluded that low cost drip systems achieved water saving of more than 25.9 as compared to surface irrigation systems. Finally this technology needs further evaluation under farmer circumstance for better finding.
Highlights
Huge proportion of the population in Ethiopia is engaged in less productive agricultural activities
The experiment was conducted at the experimental site of Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Centre
Drip irrigation showed a saving of 25.9% water and 1.6% higher yield as compared to surface irrigation (Table 8)
Summary
Huge proportion of the population (more than 85%) in Ethiopia is engaged in less productive agricultural activities This low productive rain-fed small-holder agriculture is the main source of food supply in the country. With this regard, unreliable distribution of rainfall represents critical constraint to enough food production and is the major cause for food self insufficiency and famine in the country. It is wise to make efficient use of water and bring more area under irrigation through limited water resources This can be achieved by introducing advanced methods of irrigation and improved water management practices [21]
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