Water-Saving Irrigation Technology as a Way of using Water Resources Sustainably in the Khorezm Oasis

Abstract

Agricultural water is a limiting resource in many semi-arid countries of the world due to low precipitation and high evapotranspiration. Installation of water-saving technologies has been implemented in many parts of the world to use water more sustainably. The use of water-saving irrigation technology for cotton-grain crop rotation has not been adequately studied in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan. This study provides insights into such technology used on irrigated meadow-alluvial soils of the Khorezm region with a groundwater level of 2-3 m. On the basis of the irrigation regime, experimental work was carried out in the cotton field to determine the sustainability of irrigation technology. In addition, it was determined the duration of irrigation and the soil moisture pattern along the length of the furrows with a field moisture capacity of the soil 70-80-60%. The results indicate that regardless of the soil physical properties (light, medium and heavy), applying irrigation for cotton using counter furrows showed the highest yield of raw cotton, i.e. 4.1-4.2 ton/ha, which is 1.1-1.2 ton/ha more compared to traditional furrow irrigation. Moreover, under variable-jet furrow irrigation the yields of raw cotton was amounted at 4-4.1 ton/ha, which is about 0.9-1 ton/ha more compared to traditional method of irrigation. At the same time, about 16-18% of irrigation water was conserved.