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Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Received: 30 July 2021     Accepted: 18 August 2021     Published: 30 August 2021
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Abstract

Water is a scarce resource in Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia and is a major limiting factor for crop production. Onion is one of the major economically important vegetable crops grown under irrigation in central rift valley. The field experiment was conducted at Melkasa agricultural research center during the dry season to identify conventional furrow irrigation and irrigation application level with and without mulch that maximizes productivity of onion per unit of water consumed and enhanced onion crop production. The experiment was carried out using RCB design having six treatments with three replications. The FAO’s recommended allowable Manageable depletion level of onion is 100%. In this study 75%, 100% recommended and 125% were tested. The analysis of variance for the result of the study indicated highly significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for yield, yield components and WUE’s. The highest yield of 320.7 ton/ha was obtained from the 75% MAD with mulch which was not significantly (P≤0.05) different to the 100% MAD irrigation level. In terms of irrigation and water use efficiency, 75% MAD irrigation level application gave the highest IWUE which was significantly different from all other treatment combinations. Yield and water use efficiency based comparison had shown that there was significant difference between the yield, CWUE, and IWUE obtained in the treatment. Therefore, it can be concluded that increased water saving and associated water productivity through the use of 75% MAD with Conventional furrow irrigation and mulch, can solve problem of water shortage which improve WUE without significant reduction of yield. 75% MAD irrigation level water applied system and mulch appears to be a promising alternative for water conservation and labor saving with negligible trade-off in yield.

Published in Journal of Plant Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20
Page(s) 199-207
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Furrow Irrigation, MAD, Onion, Water Productivity

References
[1] Allen, R. G., Pereira L. S., Raes D. and Smith M., 1998. Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop requirements. Irrigation and Drainage paper Number, 56. FAO, Rome. Italy.
[2] Al-Moshileh, A. 2007. Effects of planting date and irrigation water level on onion (Allium cepa L.) production under central Saudi Arabian conditions. J Basic Appl. Sci, 8: 14-28.
[3] Bagali A, Patil H, Gule M, and Patil R (2012). Effect of scheduling of drip irrigation on growth, yield and water use efficiency of onion (Allium cepa L.). Karnataka J Agric. Sci., 25 (1): 116-119.
[4] Brewster, J. L. 1990. Physiology of crop growth and bulbing. In: H. D. Rabin witch and J. L. Brewster (eds.). Onions and allied crops. Botany, physiology and genetics. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. Pp 54-80.
[5] Doorknobs, J. and Kassam A. H. 1979. Yield Response to Water. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper Number, 33, Rome.
[6] Evans, R. G., and E. J. Sadler. 2008. Methods and technologies to improve efficiency of water use. Water Resource Research 44: W00E04.
[7] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 1998. Crop evapotranspiration guidelines for computing crop water requirements. Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56. FAO, Rome.
[8] FAO. (Food and Agricultural Organization), 1992. Ninth Meeting of east and southern African Subcommittee for Soil Correlation and Land evaluation. SoilBulletin No. 70. FAO, Rome, Italy.
[9] Gençoglan, C., and Yazar, A. The effects of deficit irrigations on corn yield and water use efficiency. TurkishJ. Agric. Forest. 23: 233–241. 1999.
[10] Heidari, H. Alternate Furrow Irrigation Effect on Yield, Yield Components and Seed Germination of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica) In Double Cropping System. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences. 3 (1): 64-69. 2012.
[11] Hillel, D. 2004. Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics. Elsevier Academic Press.
[12] Jackson, M. L. 1958. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
[13] Mekonnen, M. M. and A. Y. Hoekstra, 2016. Four billion people facing severe water scarcity. Science Advances, 2, e1500323.
[14] Palanisami K (2002). Economics of irrigation technology transfer and adoption. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Coimbatore, India. www.fao.org/docrep/W7314E/w7314eof, accessed on June 2017.
[15] Quadir, M. Boulton, A. Ekman, J. Hickey, M. and Hoogers, R. 2005. Influence of drip irrigation on onion yield and quality. IREC Farmers News lett. 170: 29-31.
[16] Reddy R (2010). Irrigation Engineering. Gene-tech books, New Delhi.
[17] Sahlemedin Sertsuand and Tesfaye Bekele (eds.), 2000. Procedures for soil and plant analysis. National Soil Research Centre: EARO. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[18] Scholten, W., 2007. Agricultural development and water use in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia: A rapid appraisal. Internship Report. University of Twenty.
[19] Walker, W. R. 2003. Guidlines for Designing and Evaluating Surface Irrigation Systems. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 45 FAO, Rome.
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    Gebeyehu Ashemi. (2021). Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Journal of Plant Sciences, 9(4), 199-207. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20

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    ACS Style

    Gebeyehu Ashemi. Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. J. Plant Sci. 2021, 9(4), 199-207. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20

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    AMA Style

    Gebeyehu Ashemi. Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. J Plant Sci. 2021;9(4):199-207. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20,
      author = {Gebeyehu Ashemi},
      title = {Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia},
      journal = {Journal of Plant Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {4},
      pages = {199-207},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jps.20210904.20},
      abstract = {Water is a scarce resource in Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia and is a major limiting factor for crop production. Onion is one of the major economically important vegetable crops grown under irrigation in central rift valley. The field experiment was conducted at Melkasa agricultural research center during the dry season to identify conventional furrow irrigation and irrigation application level with and without mulch that maximizes productivity of onion per unit of water consumed and enhanced onion crop production. The experiment was carried out using RCB design having six treatments with three replications. The FAO’s recommended allowable Manageable depletion level of onion is 100%. In this study 75%, 100% recommended and 125% were tested. The analysis of variance for the result of the study indicated highly significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for yield, yield components and WUE’s. The highest yield of 320.7 ton/ha was obtained from the 75% MAD with mulch which was not significantly (P≤0.05) different to the 100% MAD irrigation level. In terms of irrigation and water use efficiency, 75% MAD irrigation level application gave the highest IWUE which was significantly different from all other treatment combinations. Yield and water use efficiency based comparison had shown that there was significant difference between the yield, CWUE, and IWUE obtained in the treatment. Therefore, it can be concluded that increased water saving and associated water productivity through the use of 75% MAD with Conventional furrow irrigation and mulch, can solve problem of water shortage which improve WUE without significant reduction of yield. 75% MAD irrigation level water applied system and mulch appears to be a promising alternative for water conservation and labor saving with negligible trade-off in yield.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Response of Onion (Allium Cepa L,) to Different Irrigation Levels under Conventional Furrow Irrigation with and without Mulch at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
    AU  - Gebeyehu Ashemi
    Y1  - 2021/08/30
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20
    T2  - Journal of Plant Sciences
    JF  - Journal of Plant Sciences
    JO  - Journal of Plant Sciences
    SP  - 199
    EP  - 207
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2331-0731
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jps.20210904.20
    AB  - Water is a scarce resource in Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia and is a major limiting factor for crop production. Onion is one of the major economically important vegetable crops grown under irrigation in central rift valley. The field experiment was conducted at Melkasa agricultural research center during the dry season to identify conventional furrow irrigation and irrigation application level with and without mulch that maximizes productivity of onion per unit of water consumed and enhanced onion crop production. The experiment was carried out using RCB design having six treatments with three replications. The FAO’s recommended allowable Manageable depletion level of onion is 100%. In this study 75%, 100% recommended and 125% were tested. The analysis of variance for the result of the study indicated highly significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences for yield, yield components and WUE’s. The highest yield of 320.7 ton/ha was obtained from the 75% MAD with mulch which was not significantly (P≤0.05) different to the 100% MAD irrigation level. In terms of irrigation and water use efficiency, 75% MAD irrigation level application gave the highest IWUE which was significantly different from all other treatment combinations. Yield and water use efficiency based comparison had shown that there was significant difference between the yield, CWUE, and IWUE obtained in the treatment. Therefore, it can be concluded that increased water saving and associated water productivity through the use of 75% MAD with Conventional furrow irrigation and mulch, can solve problem of water shortage which improve WUE without significant reduction of yield. 75% MAD irrigation level water applied system and mulch appears to be a promising alternative for water conservation and labor saving with negligible trade-off in yield.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Ethiopia Agricultural Research Institute, Melkassa Agricultural Research Center, Adama, Ethiopia

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