Grape production assessment using surface and subsurface drip irrigation methods

Abstract

The study involved experimental work implemented from April 2014 until March 2017. Its purpose was to observe grape production quality parameters, such as yield, water productivity, berry size and bio-mass. Different irrigation methods, such as drip irrigation (DI), drip irrigation with plastic mulching (DIPM), drip irrigation with organic mulching (DIOM), subsur-face irrigation with stone column (SISC), subsurface irrigation with mud pot (SIMP), and subsurface irrigation with plastic bottles (SIPB) have been used during the experimental work. The crop has been irrigated following the CROPWAT-8.0 model developed by the FAO. Climate parameters are obtained from the automatic weather station located near the experi-mental field. Based on experimental results and analyses, it has been observed that the drip irrigation with the plastic mulching method is the best for irrigation in terms of the grape yield comparing with all other methods due to its highest productivity of 35–40%. Subsurface irrigation with the plastic bottle method is found to be suitable as it gives 20% higher yield than the traditional drip irrigation method. The SIPB method shows the cost-benefit ratio of 112.3, whereas the DIPM method had the ratio of 36.6. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, it is concluded that the SIPB method is economically more viable as compared with all other methods. Hence, based on the findings, it is recommended to use drip irrigation with a plastic mulch-ing and drip irrigation with a plastic bottle as the best options to achieve grape productivity while using minimum water.