Abstract
Grape is a major fruit crop which occupies 33% of the total area of fruit cultivation in Yemen. Grape vines are cultivated under both irrigated and rainfed production systems. The irrigation practices in grape orchards are traditional with low efficiency due to high losses of water. In order to obtain rapid and reliable results, the comparison of five equations for calculation of evapotranspiration and obtaining the Kc values by utilizing actual evapotranspiration of grape became necessary. Crop water requirement of grape trees in Sawan, Bani Hushaish District in Sana'a Governorate was studied and two methods of irrigation were investigated for two years (2005-2006). The investigated irrigation methods were: bubbler (localized) irrigation and basin irrigation. Results indicated the significant superiority of bubbler irrigation over the basin irrigation. The actual water requirements reached 601 and 736 mm water depth respectively with application efficiency reaching 82.6% and 69.8% respectively. The irrigation water productivity of the bubbler irrigation was significant (3.8 kg/m3) while it was less under basin irrigation (1.8 kg/m3). Results indicated that the average crop coefficient throughout the growing season ranged from 0.42 in the case of using Ivanov equation and 0.75 in the case of Hargreaves. In addition to standard FAO Penman-Monteith equation, the Hargreaves and Blaney-Criddle are the best equations that can be used in determination of crop water requirements and irrigation scheduling of grapes. It was also observed that the highest crop coefficient was recorded in the months of May and June in all treatments.
Highlights
Grapes are considered one of the most important fruits in Yemen
The differences between the methods of irrigation suggest that there is a considerable amount of water wasted through deep percolation and evaporation from the surface of the soil in the case of basin irrigation compared to bubbler irrigation where irrigation water was localized directly under each tree
The bubbler irrigation method appeared to be more efficient in terms of water use and water saving and led to significant increase in yield compared to the basin irrigation
Summary
Grapes are considered one of the most important fruits in Yemen. Total acreage occupied under grapes reaches 13488 ha producing 129385 ton (MAI, 2009). Statistics of the past five years indicates that grape cultivation occupies the third place among different fruit crops cultivated in Yemen and constitute 14.5% of the total fruit growing areas. Grape trees are cultivated in Yemen under rainfed and irrigated production systems. Supplementary irrigation are practiced under rainfed production systems. Basin irrigation is practiced and the low irrigation efficiency is evident almost everywhere. The low irrigation water efficiency is attributed to the losses of irrigation water in the earthen canals as well as in farm
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