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soil moisture regime that enhances the growth and yield of the crop; consequently giv-
ing high value of WUE.
The study further indicated that mulching had signifi cant infl uence in increasing
the WUE of the crop. When mulching was done, drip irrigation with 100% irrigation
requirement enhanced the mean WUE by 16.3% as compared to drip irrigation with
100% irrigation but with no mulch. Similar trend was noticed for other treatments with
and without mulch. Thus, the study suggests that irrigation to tomato may be done by
drip irrigation to meet the 100% irrigation requirement along with inclusion of black
plastic mulch.
15.5 SUMMARY
Field experiments were conducted at the Regional Research and Technology Transfer
Station in Chiplima - Odisha - India for two years (2006 and 2007) to study the effects
of drip and furrow irrigation on yield and water use efficiency of tomato grown under
the mulching and nonmulching condition. The experiment was laid out in random-
ized block design having eight treatments and three replications each. Out of the eight
treatments, six comprises of 100, 80 and 60% irrigation requirement of the crop with
mulching and nonmulching conditions irrigated by drip system and two with furrow
irrigation at 100% irrigation requirement with mulching and nonmulching condition.
The study revealed that treatment with 100% irrigation requirement along with
mulching (Treatment T5) gave the highest yield and yielding attributing data among
all other treatments. The same treatment also gave signifi cantly highest of tomato
(19.0 t/ha, mean of two years) compared to other treatments with highest water -use-
effi ciency of 0.763 t/ha/cm (mean of two years). Yield and water-use-effi ciency of the
crop for drip-irrigated system are found to be more than conventional furrow irriga-
tion. Amongst the drip irrigated crops, the yield of the crop was found to be maximum
when the crop was irrigated to meet 100% irrigation requirement. The study also in-
dicated that mulching played a signifi cant role in enhancing yield, decreasing water
requirement and hence augmenting the water-use-effi ciency of tomato. When the crop
is irrigated by drip system to meet 100% irrigation requirement along with mulching,
water-use-effi ciency increases by 82.5% than when the crop is irrigated by furrow
system without any mulch, which is the conventional irrigation system for tomato in
the region.
KEYWORDS
Drip Irrigation
Furrow Irrigation
India
Irrigation requirement
Micro-irrigation
Mulching
Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology
 
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