Ahmed M. Taha , Azza Kh. Salem and Nabil E. G. Mekhaile( 2019). Maximizing land and water productivity of sudan-grass Under sprinkler irrigation in sandy soilJ. Soils and Crops 29 (2) 207-217, December 2019
J. Soils and Crops 29 (2) 207-217, December 2019
Abstract: A field experiment was conducted at Ismailia Research Station (30o 35' N latitude, 30o 26' E longitude, 20.0m above mean sea level), Egypt during the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons to study the effect of three irrigation treatments (125, 100 and 75%ETo) on forage yield and its attributes of Sudan-grass crop. The effects of irrigation levels on the amounts of applied irrigation water, water consumptive use, water productivity on forage yield and its components, as well as its yield quality were studied. Results indicated that distribution uniformity values were 76 and 78% in 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively. Average amounts of applied irrigation water under 125, 100, and 75% ETo irrigation levels treatment were 4450, 3710 and 2980 m3 ha-1, respectively. While the average water consumption were 3675, 2879 and 2140 m3 ha-1, respectively. The percentages of saved water were 20 and 50% for the 100 and 75 ETo, respectively as compared with the 125% ETo treatment. Average water use efficiency under 125, 100, and 75% ETo irrigation levels treatment values were 8.48, 7.76 and 7.62 and water productivity values were 7.0, 6.02 and 5.48 respectively. Moreover, there was a significant effect of the tested irrigation levels on forage yield and quality, plant height, number of tillers plant-1, number of leaves plant-1, dry leave stem ratio and green yield, as well as yield quality (dry yield, protein, ash and fiber). The results also revealed that there was a highly significant positive correlation between green forage yield and each of leaves number, dry leaf stem ratio, plant height, tillers number and protein. Thus, in case of water shortage, irrigating Sudan-grass in sandy soils with 100% ETo will save 20% of applied irrigation water used for irrigation, gives the water use efficiency of 7.76 green yield/m3 water consumed and water productivity of 6.02 kg green yield/m3 under sprinkler irrigation system and fertigation practice.
Keywords: (Sudan-grass, BIS model, sprinkler system, sandy soil, water use efficiency , water productivity) .)
