Improving Irrigation Efficiencies through Different Methods of Land Leveling and Irrigation Discharge under Using Gated Pipes at North Delta

Abstract

A field trial was conducted through summer season of 2016 at Sakha Agricultural research Station Farm, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of four methods of land leveling (traditional land leveling, precision land leveling, ground surface slope of 0.05% and 0.1% as main plots and three irrigation water discharge (2.0, 2.5 and 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1) as sub plots on cotton yield and its components, some water relations and irrigation efficiencies. The results revealed that the ground surface slope of 0.1% and 0.05% and precision land leveling lead to increasing the seed cotton yield by 21.8, 15.12 and 5.15% compared to traditional land leveling, respectively. Also, irrigation water discharge at 2.5 and 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 raised seed cotton yield by 11.61 and 5.13% compared to 2.0 L.Sec-1 m-1. The achieved results indicated that the land leveling of ground surface slope of 0.1% and irrigation 2.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 were the best treatment in increasing the boll weight and earliness percentage. Respecting to irrigation water saving, data demonstrated that the land leveling at 0.1% and 0.05% ground surface slope saved irrigation water by 33.57% and 21.93% compared to traditional land leveling. Data indicated that the interaction between land leveling and 0.1% ground irrigation water discharge at 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 obtained the highest values of water distribution efficiency, water application efficiency, consumptive use efficiency, water productivity and productivity of irrigation water.