Need for Irrigation

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil for the following purposes
 Irrigation is needed for normal growth and yield of the plant.
 It is needed for metabolic processes of the plant.
 To reduce the soil temperature.
 For easy germination of the seeds from the soil.
 Irrigation water acts as a medium for transport of nutrients and photosynthates in the plant system.
 To provide crop insurance against short duration drought.
 To washout dilute salts in the soil.
 To reduce the hazard of soil piping.

 To soften tillage pans.

Quantum of Water Required by Plants
 Water requirement of a crop is the quantity of water needed for normal growth,development
and yield and may be supplied by precipitation or by irrigation or by both. Water is needed
mainly to meet the demands of evaporation (E), transpiration (T) and metabolic needs of the
plants. The water requirement of any crop is dependent upon,
 Crop factors like variety, growth stage, duration, plant population and growing season.
 Soil factors like texture, structure, depth,and topography.
 Climatic factors like temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity.
 Crop management practices like tillage, fertilization, weeding etc.,

Quantum of Water Requirement (mm) of Different Crops

Crop Water Requirement(mm)

Rice 900 - 2500
Wheat 450 - 650
Sorghum 450 - 650
Maize 500 - 800
Sugarcane 1500 - 2500
Groundnut 500 - 700
Cotton 700 - 1300
Soybean 450 - 700
Tobacco 400 - 600
Tomato 600 - 800
Potato 500 - 700
Onion 350 - 550
Chillies 500
Sunflower 350 - 500
Castor 500
Bean 300-500
Cabbage 380-500
Banana 1200-2200
Citrus 900-1200
Grape 500-1200
 Pineapple 700-1000
Ragi 400-450
Gingelly 350-400

Stages of Crop When Irrigation is Required

 During the growth span, the plant passes through various phases and the stages of growth.
The growth rhythm of plant is slow during some stages and fast during some other stages.
Accordingly plant demands variable supply of water.
 The growth period of irrigated dry (ID) crops can generally be divided into 3 phases namely
 vegetative,
 reproductive and
 ripening phases.
 Each of these phases has different stages.
 Vegetative phase: The early vegetative phase consists of crop establishment or initial stage
during the first 2 - 3 weeks after sowing. This is followed by crop development stage which
last for 2 - 6 weeks in different crops.
 Reproductive or flowering phase:The reproductive or flowering phase comprises the period
from initiation of buds to 75 % flowering. This period in most of the seasonal ID crops last for
2 - 3 weeks and in two seasonal crops and perennial crops for 4 - 6 weeks or more.
 In yield formation stage otherwise known as ripening phase the end product is formed. The
flowering and yield formation period together is known as mid-season stage. During the last
part of the ripening phase the crops undergo yellowing and drying to mature. This period is
called maturity stage or late season stage and it last for 2 - 4 weeks in most crops. The
entire reproductive phase is highly sensitive growth period when the growth rhythm is fast.
Therefore the soil water stress should be avoided during this period. Active vegetative phase
and yield formation stage are moderate in sensitivity while initial establishment and maturity
stages are least sensitive to water stress.

 Some crops like Cotton, Groundnut and pulses even prefer stress during early vegetative
growth to suppress excessive vegetative growth. In many crops the initial establishment and
flowering stages are highly sensitive to excess water conditions resulting in poor performance
of the root system and also shedding of flowers, in addition to lodging at maturity in some
crops.
Critical Stages of Irrigaton Requirement

 The water balance in ID crops is refered to the soil water storage in the root zone and not to
the level of standing water in the field, as in case of paddy.
 The critical stages or otherwise known as sensitive stages of different crops for irrigation
water requirement are as follows,

Rice Panicle initiation, flowering.

Wheat Crown root initiation, shooting, earing.
Sorghum Booting, Blooming, milky and dough stage.
Maize Tasseling, silking stages to early grain formation.
Pearlmillet Heading and flowering.
Finger millet Panicle initiation, flowering.
Groundnut Flowering, Peg penetration, Seed development.

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Sunflower Two weeks before flowering to two weeks after flowering.
Cotton Flowering and boll development.
Chillies Flowering.
Sugarcane Formative stage
Pulses Flowering and pod formation.
Soybean Blooming and seed formation
Tobacco Immediately after transplanting and knee stage.
Citrus Fruit setting and enlargement stage.
Banana Early vegetative period, flowering and yield formation.
Tomato From the commencement of fruit set.
Potato Tuber initiation to tuber maturity.
Cabbage Head formation until become firm.
Carrot Root enlargement.

Methods of Irrigation

Flood Irrigation
 Flooding method of irrigation is exclusive for lowland rice though it is used for some other
crops also. Water is allowed from the channel into the field without much control on either
side of the flow. It covers the entire field and moves almost unguided.
 The ideal size of each plot or basin is 0.1 to 0.2 ha for economising water.Uneven distribution
and low water application efficiency are the common drawbacks of this method.

Basin Irrigation
 Basin method is almost similar to check - basin method except that in the check-basin
method entire field is irrigated while in basin method only the basin around the trees are
irrigated.
 This method is suitable for fruit crops. Basins are generally round in shape, occasionally
square in shape. The basins are small when the trees are young and their size is increased
with age of the trees. Basins are connected by an irrigation channel.

Check-Basin Method
 Check-basin method of irrigation is the most common method among surface methods of
irrigation. In this method the field is divided into small plots surrounded by small bunds on all
the four sides.
 Water from head channel is supplied to the filed channels one after the other. Each field
channel supplies water to two rows of check basins and water is applied to one basin after
another. This method is adopted when the field is quite large and is not easy to level the
entire field. In such situations, the field is divided into small strips and each strip into several
plots by putting bunds and these plots are called check basins.
 The advantage of this method is that the water can be applied uniformly and effectively. It is
suitable for close growing crops like groundnut, wheat, fingermillet, pearlmillet, paragrass
etc.,. The disadvantages are more labour is required, more land is wasted under channels
and bunds. Intercultivation is not possible due to bunds.

Border Strip Method

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  The field is divided into number of stripes by forming bunds of around 15 cm height. These
parallel earth ridges are called borders, and are formed to guide a sheet of flowing water
across a field.
 The area between two borders is the border strip. Length of the strip ranges from 30 to 300
m and width from 3 to 15 m. However, the most common sizes are 60 to 90 m in length and
6 to 12 m in width.
 The size of border strips depend on stream size, soil structure and slope of the land. The
borders are laid out along the general slope or on the contour. Water from the channel is
allowed into each strip at a time. This method is suitable for close growing crops and medium
to heavy textured soils, but not suitable for sandy soils.

Drip Irrigation
 It is defined as the precise, slow application of water in the form of discrete or continuous or
tiny streams of miniature sprays through mechanical devices called emitters or applicators
located at selected points along water delivery lines.
 It is also called trickle irrigation. Drip irrigation is adopted extensively in areas of acute water
scarcity and especially for crops such as Coconut, Grape, Banana, Ber, Citrus, Sugarcane,
Cotton, Maize, Tomato, Brinjal and plantation crops. The advantages of drip irrigation are,
 No fertilizer nutrient loss due to localized application.
 High water distribution efficiency.
 Levelling of the field not necessary.
 Only root zone is saturated.
 Moisture always at field capacity in the root zone.
 Soil factor plays less important role in frequency of irrigation.
 No soil erosion.
 Highly uniform distribution of water i.e., controlled by each nozzle.
 Low labour cost.
 Variation in supply can be regulated by regulating the valves and drippers.
 Fertigation can be adopted with drip irrigation.
 The disadvantages of drip irrigation is expensive i,e., initial cost is more in installing drip
method.

Sprinkler Irrigation
 Sprinkler irrigation system conveys water from the source through pipes under pressure to
the field and distributes over the field in the form of spray of 'rain like' droplets. It is also
known as over head irrigation.
 Different types of sprinkler systems namely portable, semi-portable, semi-permanent and
permanent are in vogue. But due to increased labour costs and energy costs, different types
of sprinklers are developed.
 Centre-pivot system is largest sprinkler system with a single machine can irrigate upto 100
ha. A centre - pivot sprinkler consists of a series of sprinklers mounted on a lateral pipe, 50 -
800 m long, mounted or carried by a row of five or more mobile towers.
 One end of the lateral is fixed on a pivot pad. The unit rotates around a centre pivot where
water is pumped into the pipe, and water is distributed through sprinkler fitted on lateral. The
limitations of this system are,
 10 - 20 % of area is not irrigated at the corners of square or rectangular plot.
 High energy requirement and Huge cost of the equipment.
 Now lateral - move systems are developed to overcome the draw backs in centre-pivot
system for irrigating square or rectangular plots. This irrigation system consists of lateral -
move systems which move up and down the field.
 Sprinkler irrigation can be advantageously chosen in the following situations

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  When the soil is too shallow eliminating the possibility of levelling of lands.
 When the land is too steep ( > 1% slope).
 When light (< 5 cm) and frequent irrigations are to be given.
 When soils are very sandy (rapidly permeable coarse textured soils) and
 When supplemental irrigation is to be given to dryland crops during prolonged dry spells,
without any land preparation.

Disadvantages
 High winds ( > 12 km/hr) cause improper distribution of water.
 Evaporation losses are high from sprinkler irrigation especially under high temperature and
low relative humidity conditions.
 The initial cost is high,

 Some sort of knowledge is needed for successful operation of sprinkler system.

Problems of Under Irrigation

 Under irrigation causes reduction in photosynthesis due to reduction in photosynthetic rate,

chlorophyll content and leaf area.
 Due to under irrigation, water deficit occurs, as a result stomata are closed, so that reduction
in transpiration takes place.
 Translocation of assimilates is also affected by water stress.
 Respiration rate decreases with increased moisture stress.
 Due to under irrigation enzymatic activity decreases. So that accumulation of sugars and
aminoacids takes place due to breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins.
 Due to under irrigation hormonal balance is altered.

 Due to under irrigation reduction in fixation, uptake and assimilation of nitrogen takes place.

Problems of Excess Irrigation

 Excess irrigation causes several changes in the soil and plant resulting in reduced growth and
in some cases death of plants.
 Germinating seeds are sensitive to waterlogging since they are totally dependent on the
surrounding soil space for oxygen supply.
 Yield of cereals depressed if the excess irrigation given at panicle development stage. iv.
Excess water causes injury to the plant due to low oxygen supply to the root system and
accumulation of toxic substances in soil and plant.
 Wilting of tobacco takes place when bright sunshine occurs after a prolonged wet spell.
 Leaching of nitrates and denitrification occurs resulting in nitrogen deficiency.
 . Shoot elongation, senescence, abscission and production of adventitious roots takes place
as a result of continuous excess irrigation.
 Respiration in the roots change from aerobic to anaerobic with the result, toxic substances
accumulates in roots and damage the root system.

 Permeability of roots decreased due to shortage of O2. It results in decreases water and
nutrient uptake.
Losses of Water

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  Generally water is last through leaching, drainage, evapotranspiration and runoff.
 The following disadvantages will be observed due to water loss,
 Soil becomes very hard.
 The germination percentage will be decreased.
 · The nutrients in the soil leaches or evaporates.
 The root growth retards, so that plant becomes stunted as a result yields become reduced.
 Stomata becomes closed, so that the transpiration process caused as a result accumulation of
gases or metabolic wastes increases, leads to death of the plant.

 · The soil micro organism activity decreases.

Water Use Efficiency

 Water use efficiency is the yield of marketable crop produced per unit of water used in
evapotranspiration.
 WUE = Y/ET
 Water use efficiency is also known as crop water use efficiency or consumptive water use
efficiency (Ecm) if the water used for metabolic purpose of the crop (G) and is included with
ET.
 ECU = Y/G+ET
 If yield is proportional to ET, water-use efficiency has to be a constant but it is not so.
Actually, Y and ET are influenced independently or differently by crop management practices,
while ET is mainly dependent on climate and soil moisture. Fertilization and other cultural
practices for high crop yields usually increases WUE. The factors affecting WUE are nature of
the plant, agronomic practices, climate, ET, irrigation, fertilization and plant population.
 There are considerable differences between plant species to produce a unit dry matter per unit
amount of water used resulting in widely varying values of water use efficiency. The water
use efficiency for few crops is listed below.

Water requirement
Crop Grain yield (kg/ha) WUE (kg/ha mm)
(mm)
Rice 2000 6000 3.0
Sorghum 500 4500 9.0
Pearlmillet 500 4000 8.0
Maize 625 5000 8.0
Groundnut 506 4680 9.2
Wheat 280 3534 12.6
Fingermillet 310 4137 13.4

Water Related Issues

Water Ph

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  pH is the negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration. If pH is 7.0, it is considered as
neutral. If the pH is less than 7.0 and H+ concentration exceeds OH- it is referred as acidic
and if pH ranges 7 - 14 it is considered as alkaline. The pH is a sort of voltage measurement
to cover the entire range of 0-14. The pH is one of the parameters to assess the water
whether it is suitable for irrigation or not based on pH values.
 Main cations present in irrigation water are calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. In
effluents and sewage waste waters ammonium and heavy metal cations are also found. The
important anions like chlorides, carbonates and bicarbonates, sulphates and nitrates are also
present in irrigation water.
 For appraisal of irrigation water quality the water samples are mainly analyzed for total salts
(EC) relative proportion of cations, anions and toxic substances such as excess boron and
fluorine. For example, the pH of bicarbonate (HCo3) waters is usually more than 7.5 and its
determination may reflect the degree of sodicity in the sample.
 Sulphate content will be more in saline water having higher E.C. If boron content is more
than 2.0 mg/1(ppm) in irrigation water, it is harmful to most of the crops. Fluorine content
beyond 10 ppm in irrigation water is harmful indirectly to animals who feed on plants
irrigated with high fluoride waters. Sodium at higher levels in irrigation water exerts a toxic
effect on crop growth.
 Good irrigation water should not have excessive amounts of any salt or toxic substances.

Water EC

 Natural water has E.C value of much less than one unit. These values are reported as milli
mhos (EC x 10-3) or micro mhos (EC x 10-6) at 250C. Electrical conductivity serves as a
guide to know the extent of soluble salts present in irrigation water. The criteria for judging
the quality of irrigation water is the total salt concentration as measured by electrical
conductivity. The harmful effects increases with increase in total salt concentration.
 Irrigation water may be classified based on EC are,

C1 - Low Salinity Water

 If electrical conductivity is less than 0.25 ds/m, the irrigation water is classified as low salinity
water. It can be used for irrigation on all soils and on most crops but leaching is required in
case of extremely low permeable soil.

C2 - Medium Salinity Water

 It has EC between 0.25 to 0.75 ds/m. This water can be safely used for crops with moderate
salt tolerance. The soil should have moderate level of permeability and leaching to avoid
accumulation of salts.

C3 - High Salinity Water

 Water with EC ranges of 0.75 to 2.25 ds/m is called high salinity water. This water can not be
used on soils with poor drainage. This water can be used for salt tolerant crops by providing
good drainage and also by practicing management practices for salinity control.

C4 - Very High Salinity Water

 If EC is more than 2.25 ds/m the water is classified as very high salinity water. It is not
suitable for irrigation under ordinary conditions but may be used occasionally if the soil is

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 permeable by providing adequate drainage.

Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) suggested another classification of Irrigation water
based on EC as follows,

Class EC (ds/m) Quality of water Soils and crops suitable

A1 < 1.5 Normal waters Most soils, most crops
Most crops on light and medium textured soils. Semi-
A2 1.5 - 3.0 Low salinity waters
tolerant crops on heavy textured soils.
Semi-tolerant crops on light and medium textured soils and
Medium salinityonly tolerant crops on heavy texture soils not suitable for
A3 3-5
waters deep black soils. The soils should have a fairly good
drainage.
Tolerant crops on light and medium texture soils. Soils have
A4 5 - 10 Saline waters
excellent drainage
A5 > 10 High saline waters Not suitable for irrigation under ordinary conditions.

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Economics of Water Use
 Average yields of irrigated crops are below the economic optima because data on the best
combination of fertilizer, plant population and irrigation regime are meagre to recommend to
the farmers. Maximum WUE can not alone be the goal always. The economics of obtaining
high yields dominate the scene. Yield increases from fertilizers, plant population, irrigation,
etc., follows some kind of decreasing increment function after a stage, such that each
successive unit of input produces less profit than its predecessor.
 The general tendency is to over-irrigate, especially if water is not brought on the basis of
quantity used. This tendency can be avoided only if information is available on the most
efficient way to use water, and if field service is organized to advice the farmer on when to
irrigate and how much water to apply at each irrigation for a certain level of fertilization and
plant population. The three important approaches listed below are to be taken into account
for irrigation.

Soil Based Criteria

 Depletion of available soil moisture i.e., feel and appearance method.

Plant Based Criteria

 Critical stages approach, visual symptoms of the plant, water content, leaf temperature.

Climatological Criteria Iw/Cpe Ratio

 Surface irrigation methods are commonly used for various crops. But rice is irrigated by
flooding. Crops like Potato, Maize, Sugarcane, Cotton are commonly irrigated with furrow
method. Basin method of irrigation is adopted for fruit trees.
 The amount of water to be applied at each irrigation depends on the amount of moisture
depleted in the effective root zone depth.
 The moisture extraction pattern from different depths of the soil within the crops root zone
depth in deep uniform soils is about 40 % of the total moisture from first quarter of the root
zone, 30 % from the second, 20 % from the third and 10 % from the last quarter. At early
stages of crop growth, the depth of water applied should be less since the root system is
shallow.

 Generally the amount of water applied at each irrigation is about 50 mm in red soils and 60
mm in black soils.