Water saving under fixed-furrow surface irrigation in clay soil of the Middle Nile Delta of Egypt

Transcription

1 Wter nd Soiety III 343 Wter sving under fixed-furrow surfe irrigtion in ly soil of the Middle Nile Delt of Egypt A. A. Ad El-Hlim Soil nd Wter Deprtment, Fulty of Agriulture, Tnt University, Egypt Astrt Fixed-furrow irrigtion (FFI 14 with 14 dys intervl nd FFI 7 with seven dy intervl) were used to investigte the impts of defiit irrigtion on mize yield, mize-wter reltions nd eonomi return for the Middle Nile Delt soils ompred with onventionl every furrow irrigtion method with 14 dys intervl (). The results indited tht grin yield ws inresed with FFI 7, wheres it tended to derese under FFI 14, in omprison to. The wter pplied is redued with FFI 7 nd FFI 14 when ompred to. The rop wter use deresed under the FFI 7 nd FFI 14 tehniques s ompred to. The FFI 7 sheme exhiited improved rop wter use effiieny vlues, ompred to. The results indited lso tht FFI 7 tretment does not only inrese grin yield, enefit-ost rtio nd net return, ut lso sve irrigtion wter. Keywords: mize, Ze mys L., fixed-furrow irrigtion, mize-wter reltions, enefit-ost rtio (BCR). 1 Introdution Wter resoures in Egypt re limited, whih restrit rop prodution in the newly relimed lnds euse of the present intensive griulturl prodution in the Nile Delt nd vlley re nd griulture in Egypt relies hevily on irrigtion. The griulturl setor onsumes more thn 84% of the ville wter resoures (El- Beltgy nd Ao-Hdeed [1]). Mize is one of the mjor erel rops in Egypt. It is the most importnt foodstuff, whih provides the dily red for the indigenous popultion of rurl res. Thus, it n e onsidered s the seond feed rop fter whet. Mize WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line) doi: /ws150291

2 344 Wter nd Soiety III prodution in Egypt is out 12 million tons of grin (USDA [2]). Improving mize prodution with sving irrigtion wter nd mximizing profits, ould e hieved y determining wter yield reltionships nd hoose the most pproprite irrigtion method. The ommon irrigtion method used for mize prodution in the Middle Nile Delt of Egypt is surfe furrow irrigtion. Suh irrigtion sheme hrterized y low pplition effiieny (45 60%) nd uses signifint wter losses, minly due to exess deep peroltion from the irrigted fields (Mithell et l. [3] nd Rine nd Bkker [4]). Aordingly, irrigtion methods require fundmentl hnges in wter mngement in order to use the limited wter resoures effiiently. Defiit irrigtion hs een used s wter sving method in griulturl prodution to inrese enefit nd wter use effiieny s mentioned y Mithell et l. [5] nd Behoudin nd Mills [6]. Defiit irrigtion, under furrow irrigtion, n e indued vi different irrigtion tehniques suh s fixed-furrow. Fixedfurrow irrigtion is wy to sve wter nd showed smll improvement over the lternte furrow irrigtion (Sltni et l. [7]). Fixed-furrow irrigtion is preferle irrigtion wter mngement in res with sre mount of irrigtion wter nd rinfll (Sepskhh nd Hosseini [8]). In this regrd, every-other furrow irrigtion sved wter nd inresed mize yield (Shynnejd nd Mohrrery [9] nd Rfiee nd Shkrmi [10]). The eonomil nd environmentl enefit of using every-other furrow irrigtion method is higher thn ny other irrigtion methods, euse less wter is pplied nd greter eonomi return n e otined (Nelson nd Al-Kisi [11]). The ojetive of this reserh is to study the effets of defiit irrigtion, vi fixed-furrow (FFI) irrigtion tehnique with two different shemes ompred with the every furrow irrigtion () tehnique on mize yield, wter reltions, nd eonomi returns. 2 Mterils nd methods 2.1 Desription of the studied re The field experiment ws onduted t privte frm, lies 15 km north to Tnt ity, Al-Ghriy governorte during the 2010 nd 2011 sesons. The soil of the studied re is hrterized y ly texture with wter tle deeper thn three meters. Hydro-physil hrteristis of the soil t the experimentl field re determined s outlined y Ryn et l. [12] nd shown in Tle Tretments nd experimentl design The irrigtion tretments were: 1) Every-furrow irrigtion (onventionl irrigtion method, ), in whih irrigtion ws pplied t 14-dy intervls fter Mohyh irrigtion. WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

3 Wter nd Soiety III 345 Tle 1: Hydro-physil hrteristis of the soil of the experimentl field Chrteristis Soil depth, m Snd (%) Silt (%) Cly (%) Soil texture Cly Cly Cly Lom Cly Cly Cly Lom Bulk density (g m -3 ) FC (%, ww -1 ) PWP (%, ww -1 ) AW (mm depth) Note: FC is moisture ontent t field pity; PWP is moisture ontent t wilting point; AW is ville wter ontent. 2) Fixed every other furrow irrigtion (FFI 7 ) in whih irrigtion ws fixed to one of the two neighoring furrows nd wtering ws pplied t 7-dy intervls, i.e. during the growing seson irrigting one furrow nd kept the other djent one without wtering. 3) Fixed every other furrow irrigtion (FFI 14 ) whih ws similr to AFI 7, ut wtering ws pplied t 14-dy intervls. The experimentl plot size is 45.5 m 2 (9.1 m width 5 m length). Eh tretment inluded 15 furrows nd 14 plnting ridges (rows), sped 0.65 m prt. The experimentl plots were seprted y erthen nks (1.3 m wide nd 0.5 m high) to redue the lterl movement of irrigtion wter. 2.3 Agronomi prties Mize (Ze mys L.) seeds (TWC 324) were sown t 36 kg h -1 seeding rte in My 25 in the two growing sesons. All gronomi prties e.g. plnt density, N- fertiliztion weed nd inset ontrol, et. were kept norml nd performed t the pproprite time. The experimentl tretments were imposed fter the seond pretretment irrigtion in oth sesons. Mize ws hrvested t 123 dys fter plnting (DAP) y utting the oveground iomss, nd left for further drying efore removing the os from the stlks. Then, grins were threshed nd the grin yield (t 15% moisture ontent) ws mesured. 2.4 Irrigtion mngement A polyvinyl hloride pipe of 15 m internl dimeter nd 40 m length ws used to onvey the wter into eh plot. This pipe ws instlled to give free wter flow. The dishrge ws lulted ording to the following formul: Q = CA 2gh (1) WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

4 346 Wter nd Soiety III where Q is the dishrge rte (m 3 se -1 ); C is the dishrge oeffiient of the orifie (0.61); g is the elertion of grvity (m se -2 ); A is the orifie ross setionl re (m 2 ) nd h is the effetive wter hed ove the orifie enter. The effetive wter hed ws mesured severl times during the pre-tretment irrigtion, estimted to e 8.3 m, nd ws used to lulte the dishrge of the pipes in this study. At the time of irrigtion, wter enters the plot through the pipe till it fills the furrows s the lol frmers irrigting their fields, nd the time is reorded using stopwth. Furrows, whih re sujeted to irrigtion, re open ended, wheres the others whih re not sujeted to irrigtion re lose ended or diked. The pipe dishrge nd the durtion of the irrigtion determine the totl mount of pplied wter, whih should mth the rop wter requirement in the idel sitution. The depth of the pplied wter ws lulted using the following formul: d = Qt 1000 A (2) where d is the depth (mm); Q is the dishrge (m 3 min -1 ); t is the time (min) nd A is the plot re (m 2 ). Totl pplied irrigtion wter (AIW) ws lulted y summing the mounts of wter dded t eh irrigtion event during the entire growing seson. 2.5 Mize wter reltion prmeters Soil smples were tken y srew uger t plnting, efore nd two dys fter eh irrigtion event, nd t hrvest. Smples were tken on the eds nd in the furrows t three depths: 0 30, nd m. In fixed-furrow irrigtion tretments, the soil smples were tken for oth the irrigted nd dry furrows. The smples were used to mesure the volumetri soil-wter ontent in the root zone using the grvimetri method, sed on the onventionl oven-dry weight, nd multiplied y the ulk density. Then next prmeters were lulted Crop wter use (CWU) Crop wter use (CWU) ws lulted sed on the soil moisture depletion (Mihel [13]) s follows: n CWU VMC 1i VMC 2i D i i 1 where CWU is the rop wter use (mm); VMC 1i is the volumetri moisture ontent t the time of the first smpling in the i th lyer; VMC 2i is the volumetri moisture ontent t the time of the seond smpling in the i th lyer; D is the depth of the i th lyer of the soil (mm); nd n is the numer of soil lyers. Totl rop wter use ws otined s summtion of CWU for eh irrigtion yle Crop wter use effiieny (CWUE) Crop wter use effiieny (CWUE) or so-lled in other referenes rop wter produtivity (CWP) ws omputed y dividing the mize yield on rop wter use. (3) WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

5 Wter nd Soiety III 347 Irrigtion wter use effiieny (IWUE) or so-lled in other referenes irrigtion wter produtivity (IWP) ws determined s the rtio of mize yield to the pplied irrigtion wter for prtiulr tretment (Howell et l. [14]), ording to the following equtions. CWUE Y CWU (4) IWUE Y W (5) where Y is the grin yield (kg h -1 ); CWU is the rop wter use (m 3 h -1 ) nd W is the pplied wter (m 3 h -1 ). 2.6 Benefit ost rtio (BCR) nd net return (NR) The frming ost inludes minly the opertion nd vrile osts. The operting ost (lor, lnd preprtion, seeds, fertilizers, nd hemils) were sed on the plnted re. Therefore, the operting osts of the two fixed-furrow irrigtion tretments were the sme s the onventionl every furrow irrigtion tretment nd it ws 2500 Egyptin pounds (LE) per hetre (exhnge rte: 1 LE 0.17US$; rte, in 2011). The vrile osts depended on the numer of irrigtions nd prie per unit of wter. The indigenous irrigtion frmers in the studied re do not py for wter used in their frms. Therefore, they er only the osts of lor used in irrigtion (estimted 250 LE h -1 sed on the irrigted re nd the mn-dy lor ost of 50 LE), s well s the prie of fuel used to run pump to withdrw wter from irrigtion nls. The prie of wter unit ws estimted to e 0.25 LE m -3. The totl ost of wter for eh seson ws lulted y multiplying the prie of wter unit in totl quntity of irrigtion wter required for the mize rop. The gross revenue hs een lulted y multiplying the totl yield in kilogrm per hetre nd mrket prie of mize per kilogrm. In this study the frm-gte prie for mize grin ws 1.6 LE kg -1 ( lolly prie). The net profits nd enefit-ost rtio (BCR) due to irrigtion were lulted ording to Smpth nd Noe [15] nd Li et l. [16] s follows: Net profits = Gross revenue - Frming osts (6) BCR Net profits Frming osts (7) The net return (NR) from the irrigtion tretment tht led to inrese the grin yield ws lulted y summing the ost of sved wter nd the revenue inrese due to inrese yield. On the other hnd, the NR from the irrigtion tretment tht led to derese the grin yield ws lulted s the differene etween the osts of wter sved nd the revenue lost due to yield derese. This ws expressed s: NR WS p YL (8) where WS is the volume of wter sved per hetre; YL is the yield inrese or derese per hetre; is the unit prie per m 3 of wter; nd p is the unit prie per kg of grin yield. WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

6 348 Wter nd Soiety III 2.7 Sttistil nlysis Sttistil ANOVA ws performed with MSTATC TM version 2.0. The signifint differenes etween mens were tested using Dunn s Multiple Rnge Test (DMRT) t signifintly level of 5%. 3 Results nd disussions Grin yield ws signifintly ffeted y irrigtion tretments (Tle 2). Results showed tht the yield under FFI 7 nd tretments were higher thn tht otined from FFI 14, whih rehed 8.40 nd 8.12 t h -1 (verge over the two sesons), respetively. The grin yield s n verge over the two sesons under the FFI 7 tretment inresed y 0.28 t h -1, wheres FFI 14 deresed the yield y 1.64 t h -1 in omprison to the. This might e due to the less mount of pplied irrigtion wter under FFI 14, whih did not mth full mize wter requirements. This used wter stress nd onsequently redued rop yield. This result is in prllel with those reported y Rfiee nd Shkrmi [10]. However, The FFI 14 tretment ws more wter sving (76 mm) thn the AFI 7 (47 mm) s n verge over the two sesons. In generl, more frequent irrigtion intervl (7 dy) in fixed-furrow resulted in higher grin yield thn less frequent irrigtion intervl (14 dy). Irhim nd Kndil [17] reported the sme results. Moreover, Sepskhh nd Ghsemi [18] found tht more frequent irrigtion (10-dys intervl) with higher ir evportion potentil resulted in higher pplition of irrigtion wter nd grin nd top yields of grin sorghum. Applied irrigtion wter (AIW) ws signifintly ffeted y irrigtion tretments (Tle 2). The results of 2-yer verge (Tle 2) showed tht AIW under the FFI 7 (1017 mm) ws not equl to tht pplied under (1063 mm); however, grin yield inresed (0.28 t h -1 ). On the other hnd, not eptle grin yield derese (1.64 t h -1 ) ws oserved with less mount of IWA (988 mm) under FFI 14 tretment in omprison to onventionl irrigtion (). The smll mount of AIW with the FFI 14 nd AFI 7 tretments ompred to the, ould e ttriuted to the nture of the two tretments, whih they supply wter in mnner tht gretly redues the mount of surfe wetted, leding to less evpotrnspirtion nd less deep peroltion. On the other hnd, the mount of AIW ws more with fixed-furrow irrigtion t 7-dy intervls thn t 14-dy intervls. This n e ttriuted to more frequent irrigtion, whih resulted in higher evportion from the soil surfe, nd high ville soil moisture, whih sujeted to more sorption nd onsequently inresed trnspirtion, espeilly during the erly prt of the growing seson with inomplete ground over. In ddition, less rop wter use effiieny nd irrigtion wter uses effiieny under fixed-furrow irrigtion t 14-dy intervl sheme. Crop wter use (CWU) ws signifintly ffeted y irrigtion tretments (Tle 2). The results of 2-yer verge (Tle 2) showed tht the highest CWU (829 mm) ws reorded under. This is followed y 799 mm under FFI 7. The lowest vlue (762 mm) ws otined under FFI 14 tretment. The CWU under WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

7 Wter nd Soiety III 349 Tle 2: Applied irrigtion wter, rop wter use, rop wter use effiieny nd irrigtion wter use effiieny under different irrigtion tretments. Property Grin yield (t h -1 ) Yield inrese (+) or loss (-) (t h -1 ) Applied irrigtion wter (mm) Wter sving (mm) Crop wter use (mm) Crop wter use effiieny (kg m -3 ) Irrigtion wter use effiieny (kg m -3 ) Tret. Seson Avg FFI Note:, AFI 7, nd FFI 14 re referred to Every Furrow Irrigtion, Fixed-Furrow Irrigtion with 7-dy intervls, nd Fixed-Furrow Irrigtion with 14-dy intervls, respetively; Avg. is referred to verge over the two sesons; Mens olumn under eh suheding followed y different letter (,,) re signifintly different from eh other t P nd FFI 7 ws higher thn the FFI 14 tretment, whih ould e ttriuted to the suffiient soil moisture in the effetive root zone with the nd FFI 7 tretment, whih reeived regulr wtering during the growing seson. The lowest CWU oserved under the FFI 14, my e due to tht mize plnt, grown under the ondition of the FFI 14 tretment were sujeted to moisture stress resulted from less frequent irrigtion nd less quntity of pplied wter ording to the nture of suh tehnique. On the other hnd, rop wter use effiieny (CWUE) nd irrigtion wter use effiieny (IWUE) re signifintly ffeted y irrigtion tretments (Tle 2). Results from the 2-yer verge indited tht the highest CWUE vlue (1.05 kg m -3 ) ws reorded with FFI 7 tretment, followed y 0.98 nd 0.87 kg m -3 with nd FFI 14, respetively. Also, the highest IWCU otined with FFI 7 is 14 WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

8 350 Wter nd Soiety III 0.94 kg m -3, followed y 0.77 kg m -3 otined with tretment, while the lowest irrigtion wter use effiieny (IWUE) rehed 0.68 kg m -3 under FFI 14 tretment. These results indited tht fixed-furrow irrigtion t 7-dys intervl is pproprite method to inrese CWUE nd IWUE, euse it llows pplying less irrigtion wter, under the present tril. This finding onfirms the finding of Sltni et l. [7] who onduted field experiment to evlute three irrigtion tehniques e.g. AFI, FFI nd CFI for potto rop. The uthor dded tht pplition nd irrigtion effiieny were the highest in FFI nd lowest in CFI. The CWUE otined from vrious irrigtion tretments onfirm the poteny of defiit irrigtion in enhning the CWUE riterion. The high CWUE vlue otined with fixed-furrow irrigtion t 7-dys intervl ompred to ould e due to the high yield otined with this tretment. The IWUE offers ler piture of the effetiveness of irrigtion wter pplied. In generl, the IWUE ws high with the fixed-furrow irrigtion t 7-dys intervl. This ould e due to less mount of pplied wter ompred to tretment. The mximum BCR ws 1.80 nd 1.61 otined from FFI 7, followed y 1.60 nd 1.44 from, wheres the minimum ws 1.07 nd 1.15 oserved with FFI 14 in the 1 st nd 2 nd sesons, respetively (Tle 3). The mximum NR were 625 nd 598 LE h -1 s otined from FFI 7, ompred to the, in the 1 st nd 2 nd sesons, respetively. The other tretment FFI 14 did not hieve ny NR in oth sesons (Tle 3). Khn et l. [19] reported tht the eonomi importne of the used wter ould e worked out for speifi sitution prior to the lrge-sle doption for ommeril plnt prodution. However, the use of irrigtion intervls for etter growth nd higher yield ould e eonomilly ttrtive to redue the drought stressed onditions in wter limiting res. Among different irrigtion tretments, fixed-furrow irrigtion with 7-dys intervl (FFI 7 ) resulted in the mximum return nd the highest BCR in oth sesons of study. These results ould e due to developing nd improving CWUE with the FFI 7, whih leds to high yield. Tle 3: Benefit-ost rtio (BCR) nd net return (NR) ssoited with the dopted irrigtion tretments. Tret. Seson Cost of wter pplied LE h -1 Frming ost LE h -1 Gross revenue LE h -1 Net profit LE h -1 (BCR) (NR) LE h Note:, AFI 7, nd FFI 14 re referred to Every Furrow Irrigtion, Fixed-Furrow Irrigtion with 7-dy intervls, nd Fixed-Furrow Irrigtion with 14-dy intervls, respetively; Frming ost is lulted s summing of operting ost (2500 LE h -1 ) nd frming ost. WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

9 Wter nd Soiety III Conlusions Defiit irrigtion tretments; i.e. fixed-furrow (FFI 7 with 7 dys intervl nd FFI 14 with 14 dys intervl) for irrigted mize were investigted in the Middle Nile Delt re of Egypt ompred with every furrow irrigtion (, onventionl method with 14 dys intervl). It n e onluded tht the FFI 7 tretment ontrolled stress irrigtion without redution risk in grin yield. Moreover, it inresed the enefit-ost rtio (BCR), net return (NR), nd sved irrigtion wter. The preferene etween FFI 7 tretment nd other tretments depends on the vlue of wter with reltion to rop returns. Therefore, it is reommended tht if wter ws ville with no high ost, nd the exess wter delivery to the field did not require dditionl expense, then the fixed-furrow irrigtion with 7-dys intervl will prtilly e the est hoie under the onditions of the studied re. Referenes [1] El-Beltgy, A.T. & Ao-Hdeed A.F., The min pillrs of the Ntionl Progrm for mximizing the wter-use effiieny in the old lnd. The Reserh nd Development Counil MOALR (In Ari), 30 pge ulletin, [2] USDA-United Sttes Deprtment of Agriulture, Grin: World Mrkets nd Trde. Foreign Agriulture Servie, Cirulr series FG Online. (essed 9 Otoer 2011). [3] Mithell, A.R., Shok, C.C. & Perry, G.M., Alternting-furrow irrigtion to minimize nitrte lehing to groundwter. Conferene Pro Clen Wter- Clen Environment 21st Century, Knss City, Missouri, ASAE, [4] Rine, S.R. & Bkker, D.M., Inresed furrow irrigtion effiieny through etter design nd mngement of ne fields. Pro Aust So Sugr Cne Teh, pp , [5] Mithell, J.P., Shennn, C., Grttn, S.R. & My, D.M., Tomto fruit yields nd qulity under wter defiit nd slinity. J Amer So Hort Si, 116, pp , [6] Behoudin, M.H. & Mills, T.M., Defiit irrigtion in deiduous orhrds. Hort Rev, 21, pp , [7] Sltni, A., Zyni, K., Ziri, A., Youi, S., Slvdor, R. & Plyán, E., Assessing lternte furrow strtegies for potto t the Cherfeh irrigtion distrit of Tunisi. Biosystems Engineering, 108(2), pp , [8] Sepskhh, A.R., & Hosseini, S.N., Effets of lternte furrow irrigtion nd nitrogen pplition rtes on yield nd wter- nd nitrogen-use effiieny of winter whet (Tritium estivum L.). Plnt Prod Si, 11(2), pp , [9] Shynnejd, M. & Mohrrery, A., Effet of every-other furrow irrigtion on wter use effiieny, strh nd protein ontents of potto. Journl of Agriulture Siene, 1(2), pp , WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)

10 352 Wter nd Soiety III [10] Rfiee, M. & Shkrmi, G., Wter use effiieny of orn s ffeted y every other furrow irrigtion nd plnting density. World Applied Siene Journl, 11(7), pp , [11] Nelson, D.J. & Al-Kisi, M.M., Agronomi nd eonomi evlution of vrious furrow irrigtion strtegies for orn prodution under limited wter supply. Journl of Soil nd Wter Conservtion, 66(2), pp , [12] Ryn, J., Estefn G., & Rshid, A., Soil nd Plnt Anlysis Lortory Mnul (2nd ed). The Interntionl Center for Agriulturl Reserh in the Dry Ares (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syri nd the Ntionl Agriulturl Reserh Center (NARC), Islmd, Pkistn, p. 172, [13] Mihel, A.M., Irrigtion Theory nd Prtie. Viks Pulishing House PVT Limited, New Delhi, p. 520, [14] Howell, T.A., Cuene, R.H., & Solomon, K.H., Crop yield response. Mngement of Frm Irrigtion Systems, ed. Hoffmn GJ et l., ASAE St Joseph, MI, p. 312, [15] Smpth, R.K. & Noe, K.C., Estimtion of enefits from irrigtion projets: Existing prtie nd n lterntive model. Viklp, 8(4), p. 315, [16] Li, A., Eneji, E., Dun, L., Inng, S. & Li, Z., Sving irrigtion wter for winter whet with phosphorus pplition in the north Chin plin. Journl of plnt nutrition, 28, pp , [17] Irhim, S.A. & Kndil, H., Growth, Yield nd Chemil Constituents of Corn (Ze Mize L.) As Affeted y Nitrogen nd Phosphors Fertiliztion under Different Irrigtion Intervls. J Appl Si Res, 3, pp , [18] Sepskhh, A.R. & Ghsemi, M., Every-other-furrow irrigtion with different intervls for grin sorghum. Pk J Biol Si, 11(9), pp , [19] Khn, M.H., Chtth, T.H. & Sleem, N., Influene of Different Irrigtion Intervls on Growth nd Yield of Bell Pepper (Cpsium Annuum Grossum Group). J. Agri. Biolog. Si., 1, pp , WIT Trnstions on Eology nd The Environment, Vol 200, 2015 WIT Press ISSN (on-line)