Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; Haramaya University, P.O.Box 45, Ethiopia; University of Arizona, Yuma Agricultural Center, Yuma, AZ 85721, United States; School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
Eshetu, S., Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; Tilahun, K., Haramaya University, P.O.Box 45, Ethiopia, School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia; Zerihun, D., University of Arizona, Yuma Agricultural Center, Yuma, AZ 85721, United States
A field study was conducted to evaluate existing irrigation management practices in small-scale farm holdings in northwest Ethiopia. In this study, the effect of furrow length, as well as flow rate on irrigation performance, crop yield, and water use was studied. The field experiment was arranged in a split plot design; furrow length as main plot and flow rate as sub-plot. Each treatment has three levels; 10, 25, and 40 m furrow lengths and 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 L/s flow rates. Irrigation performance indicators are: application efficiency, Ea, storage efficiency, Es, distribution uniformity, DU, runoff fraction, Rf, deep percolation fraction, Df, yield, Y, water use efficiency, WUE. The effect of furrow length was statistically significant (p<0.05) on all performance indices except E, and flow rate has shown significant effect on all performance indices (p<0.05). The ranges of measured values of Ea, Es, DU, Rf and Df were 18-34%; 46-80%; 93-98%; 81-95%; 11-57%; and 25-47% respectively. Both furrow length and flow rate had a significant effect on yield and WUE at p<0.05. The ranges of crop yield and WUE found in the study were 17-32 t/ha and 2.1-4.1 Kg/m3 respectively. Crop yield and WUE have shown a decreasing trend as furrow length increases and increases as flow rate increases.
Crop yield; Deep percolation; Distribution uniformity; Ethiopia; Field experiment; Field studies; Irrigation management; Irrigation performance; Performance indices; Split plot designs; Storage efficiency; Water use; Water use efficiency; Benchmarking; Biochemical oxygen demand; Irrigation; Solvents; Water supply; Crops; Solanum tuberosum