JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Considering water scarcity in Iran, application of deficit irrigation or water stress on some crops is inevitable. We need to provide appropriate design for deficit irrigation. Furrow irrigation management to obtain high efficiency and uniformity is difficult. Therefore, to investigate the variation of the input discharge, the cut-off time and furrow length that are effective on the efficiency and uniformity are very important. The purpose of this research is to provide a method for determining the optimum water use depth and optimizing furrow irrigation design in deficit irrigation conditions and finally comparing design characteristics under full irrigation conditions and deficit irrigation and comparison in different soil tissues. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, an experiment was conducted on forage corn in Shahrekord in a completely randomized block design with 7 treatments of different levels of irrigation in 3 replications. The costs and benefits functions were determined based on design variable and depth of applied water. The software Lingo was used to optimize the design variables (length of the furrow, the input discharge and cut-off time) and depth of applied water in deficit irrigation condition. The results showed that the highest net profit was obtained using 535 mm (equivalent to 79% of full irrigation) and 85 meters, 0.39 liter per second and 188 minutes, respectively, for the length of furrow, input discharge and cut-off time. The results of this design were compared to full irrigation of deferent soil textures. The results showed that an increase in the permeability of the soil caused length of furrow and the cut-off time to decrease, while the flow rate increases and depth of applied water or percent of deficit irrigation were constant.

Due to the limited water resources and growing population, food security and environmental protection have become a global problem. Increasing water productivity of agricultural products is one of the main solutions to cope with the difficulties. By optimizing applied water and nitrogen fertilizer, the pollution of groundwater could be deceased and the water productivity could be increased. The aim of this research was to determine the relationships between water productivity (IRWP) and water use efficiency (WUE) and different amounts of applied water (irrigation + rain fed) and nitrogen (applied and residual). This study was conducted on wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Shiraz) in Shiraz University School of Agriculture, based on a split-plot design with three replications, in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 periods. Irrigation treatments varied from zero to 120% of full irrigation depth, and nitrogen fertilizer treatments varied from zero to 138 kg ha^-1 under basin irrigation system. The experimental data of the first and second years were used for the calibration and validation of the proposed relationships, respectively. The calibrated equations using the dimensionless ratios of irrigation depth plus rainfall, actual evapotranspiration and nitrogen fertilizer plus soil residual nitrogen to their amounts in full irrigation and maximum fertilizer amounts were appropriate for the estimation of water productivity and water use efficiency. The values of the determination coefficient (R²) for water productivity and water use efficiency (0.88 and 0.93, respectively), and the values of their normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) (0.2 and 0.13, respectively) showed a good accuracy for the estimation of IRWP and WUE.

The agricultural sector depends largely upon water and energy resources to fulfill sufficient water for producing adequate food for the rapidly growing world’s population. It requires great effort to improve water and energy productivity for agricultural products to provide consumers’ health as well as environmental protection. In this study, the volume of irrigated water, crop yield, water productivity, and the consumed energy for onion crops irrigated with sprinkler or surface irrigation methods under farmer management were measured and compared. The measurements were recorded from 2020 to 2021, on 17 farms across Esfahan Province where onion was a main crop in the region. The measured data from the foregoing two irrigation methods were statistically analyzed using t-test and Pearson correlation coefficients. The outcomes revealed that the volume of irrigated water as well as crop yield was greater for surface irrigation method compared to sprinkler irrigation, and the differences were statistically significant. Moreover, water productivity for onions irrigated with a sprinkler irrigation system was significantly higher (p<0.01) in comparison with onions irrigated with the surface method. In addition, the results indicated a significantly direct correlation between the volume of irrigated water and onion yield, whereas a significantly indirect correlation was observed between the volume of irrigated water and water productivity. A significantly inverse correlation was found between the productivity of energy for irrigation and energy consumption; so, an increase in the energy for irrigation resulted in a decrease in energy productivity. Based on the results of this study, the sprinkler method is more effective than the surface for irrigation of onion.