The effect of irrigation and drainage management on crop yield in the Egyptian Delta: Case of El-Baradi area

Abstract

Loss of excess water through free subsurface drainage networks is a major cause of inefficiency in Egypt's irrigation system, where the drainage water flows continuously and quickly with nutrients from the soil profile. This research aims at evaluating the impact of controlled drainage and irrigation scheduling on applied irrigation water, soil salinity and crop yield. Actual field data have been collected for growing seasons 2015 and 2016 in El-Baradi area in the Nile Delta. DRIANMOD-S model was used to simulate irrigation and drainage management practices for wheat and maize crops over 9 years. The simulation showed that, controlled drainage system increases the average relative yield of maize crop 6% compared to conventional drainage system, with 14% reduction in irrigation water.Using evenly irrigation gifts with decreasing 14% of the applied irrigation water increased the relative yield of wheat crop by 2.0 and 9.4% in conventional and controlled drainage systems, respectively. While the average relative yield for maize crop increased by 8.6% for conventional drainage system and decreased by 10.2% in controlled drainage system, the loss in yield for both systems was attributed mainly to salinity stress.