Value of Drip Irrigation Compared with Conventional Irrigation for Vegetable Production in a Hot Arid Climate1

Abstract

AbstractThe application of water by drip irrigation is a relatively new technique. Much remains to be learned about its effects on crops under soil and climatic conditions of hot desert areas. Studies were undertaken to evaluate the relative merits of water application by drip irrigation, overhead sprinkling, and furrow irrigation with respect to the yield potential and water‐use efficiency (WUE) of long gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.), ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb. Mansf.), and round gourd (Citrullus vulgaris var. Fistulossus (Stocks) Duthie and Fuller). The effects of daily water application by sprinkling (SP‐1) on the latter two crops were also evaluated. With drip irrigation and SP‐1, water was applied daily in amounts equal to 68% of the evaporation from a Class A pan. With furrow and overhead irrigation, water application commenced when the cumulative total of evapotranspiration reached 3.2 em.Drip irrigation increased the yield of long gourd by 45 to 47%, of round gourd by 21 to 38%, and of watermelon by 10 to 22% compared with sprinkler and furrow irrigation. All irrigation methods gave similar yields of ridge gourd. Thus, drip irrigation showed the potential to increase the yield of most, if not of all, vegetable crops. The water use efficiency with drip irrigation was nearly twice as high as with other methods of water application. Daily irrigation by sprinkling (SP‐1) on watermelon and round gourd decreased yields from 20 to 32% when compared with drip irrigation. Hence, on loamy sand soils in hot arid regions, daily irrigation is advantageous when the water is applied by drip irrigation but probably not when the water is applied by sprinkler irrigation.