Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments

382 Pages·2012·17.305 MB·English

by  T. Lee

IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
AND PRACTICES IN
CHALLENGING
ENVIRONMENTS

Edited by Teang Shui Lee
Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments
Edited by Teang Shui Lee

Published by InTech
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Copyright © 2012 InTech
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First published March, 2012
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected]

Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments, Edited by Teang Shui Lee
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-51-0420-9

Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Agricultural Water Productivity in Stressed Environments 1
Chapter 1 Effects of Irrigation on the
Flowering and Maturity of Chickpea Genotypes 3
Kamel Ben Mbarek, Boutheina Douh and Abdelhamid Boujelben
Chapter 2 Deficit (Limited) Irrigation –
A Method for Higher Water Profitability 19
Saeideh Maleki Farahani and Mohammad Reza Chaichi
Chapter 3 Water Productivity and Fruit Quality
in Deficit Drip Irrigated Citrus Orchards 33
Ana Quiñones, Carolina Polo-Folgado, Ubaldo Chi-Bacab,
Belén Martínez-Alcántara and Francisco Legaz
Chapter 4 Crop Evapotranspiration and Water Use Efficiency 57
Bergson Guedes Bezerra
Chapter 5 Strategies for Improving Water Productivity and Quality
of Agricultural Crops in an Era of Climate Change 77
Zorica Jovanovic and Radmila Stikic
Chapter 6 A Review on Creating Drought Tolerant Crop Varieties 103
Ramesh Thatikunta
Chapter 7 Drought Stress and the Need for Drought Stress
Sensing in a World of Global Climate Change 113
Rita Linke
Chapter 8 Sustainable Rice Yield in
Water-Short Drought-Prone Environments:
Conventional and Molecular Approaches 149
B. P. Mallikarjuna Swamy and Arvind Kumar
VI Contents

Chapter 9 Effects of Salinity on Vegetable
Growth and Nutrients Uptake 169
Ivana Maksimovic and Žarko Ilin
Part 2 Irrigation Systems and Water Regime Management 191
Chapter 10 Experiments on Alleviating Arsenic Accumulation
in Rice Through Irrigation Management 193
Shayeb Shahariar and S. M. Imamul Huq
Chapter 11 Effects of Irrigation-Fertilization and
Irrigation-Mycorrhization on the Alimentary
and Nutraceutical Properties of Tomatoes 207
Luigi Francesco Di Cesare, Carmela Migliori, Valentino Ferrari,
Mario Parisi, Gabriele Campanelli, Vincenzo Candido
and Domenico Perrone
Chapter 12 Experimentation on Cultivation of
Rice Irrigated with a Center Pivot System 233
Gene Stevens, Earl Vories, Jim Heiser and Matthew Rhine
Chapter 13 Large-Scale Pressurized Irrigation Systems Diagnostic
Performance Assessment and Operation Simulation 255
Daniele Zaccaria
Chapter 14 Sustainable Irrigation Practices in India 295
Rajapure V. A. and Kothari R. M.
Chapter 15 Irrigation in Mediterranean Fruit Tree Orchards 321
Cristos Xiloyannis, Giuseppe Montanaro and Bartolomeo Dichio
Chapter 16 Urban Irrigation Challenges and Conservation 343
Kimberly Moore
Chapter 17 Irrigation: Types, Sources and Problems in Malaysia 361
M. E. Toriman and M. Mokhtar

Preface

The term irrigation can be described as the practice of the science of application of
water to land, or more specifically, to the soil on which plants have been grown for
some purpose, usually on based on need, when nature alone cannot supply sufficient
water for the healthy development of the plant through its various stages of growth
and thus requires the man to devise ways and means to ensure the survival of plants,
first and foremost especially for food crops. A more precise way of looking at this
science is the art of doing it, because given the problem to a similar predicament, at the
same or different location, and more so in different climates and environment,
different people would probably solve it differently. It is an art because it takes
passion to not just do it right, but more importantly, right from various aspects that
have to be considered. Of course, getting it right may bring different connotations to
different practitioners, albeit, firstly the successful nurturing of the plants all the way
to maturity and a successful harvest is the prime motivation for doing it. To dissect it
further, the same objectives could have been met against differing backgrounds of
cost, materials and technology and other considerations. Whether the irrigation was
performed with efficient use of the water resources, whether the best system was
designed appropriately and whether the maintenance of such systems is superior or
leaves much to be desired, etc. are some of the questions that the practitioners will
have to ponder over.
In many instances, the same approach may not be envisaged to be suitable given the
circumstances and the conditions of where the irrigation project is. An example is the
cultivation of rice. In general, rice is grown in open fields where the land is used for
the gravity surface irrigation system mode of conveyance of water and where the
efficient use of water is hardly anything to shout about. Thus, given that the mode of
cultivation is in leaky basins and conveyances are in most cases through leaky unlined
earthen canals, then consideration should be given to account for the fact that seepage
and deep percolation would be part and parcel of the water requirements, although
strictly speaking “gone down the drain”. This approach is because that is the system
that was chosen and by all accounts the “losses” are a foregone conclusion that has to
be considered a “use”. Open water field evaporation will have to be taken positively
although it is another “loss” strictly because it is a part of the system and is another
“use”. Thus the efficiency of the system should include that “useful loss” for it is part
and parcel of the chosen system. Rice has to be grown this way because of the
X Preface

tremendous volumes of water needed for its cultivation, and unless other varieties that
consume much less water are chosen and suitable for the lowlands, then that’s the way
irrigating of rice crops will stay. Having said that, most of the world’s water, around
75% of the total water resources, goes to agriculture and other than with high-tech
systems, “efficiencies” in general are low. Nevertheless, in many parts of the
developing world availability of facilities to store water is a luxury that can be ill
afford, and water is thus freely runoff.
The need to understand and to be able to quantify the parts and components in this total
micro plant-soil-water-atmosphere relationship is important if water resources are to be
utilized in a downright efficient manner. The soil is taken as temporary water storage for
the plants to use anytime. This storage and its water accounting procedure have to be
well understood, including the methods and technology of replenishing the soil with
water. The transpiration of water of the crops needs to be established and quantifiable
and the host of accompanying water movement processes has to be acknowledged. The
book “Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments” covers many
topics in understanding the regime of the plant-soil-water-atmosphere environment and
further elaborating on the finer details of these relationships. It is divided into two
sections, Agricultural Water Productivity in Stressed Environments, and Irrigation
Systems and Water Regime Management. The publication of these papers expound on
the effects of irrigation on the initiation of flowering and the plant maturity process,
agricultural product quality, agro-economic water productivity, consumptive use and on
practices of sustainable agriculture in relation to water shortage etc, the practice of deficit
irrigation. Taking it further, the papers research on the droughts and the all important
climate change and its impact on agriculture, culminating with work on creating
drought resistant plant varieties. A consequence of droughts could be the increase in
salinity of soils and hence the effect of increasing salinity in relation to plant growth
needs to be well established for better control. Another pertinent subject matter that
should be of interest to all those involved with agricultural production is the
management of the agricultural water resources to alleviate the accumulation of toxic
materials in plant. New methods of irrigation of crops, especially when and where water
can be taxing to supply is being looked into. This of course would also require the
checking into the reasons and need for it to be implemented or proposed in the first
place, for instance, the irrigation of water to rice plants through an expensive energy
hungry center pivot system. Times may have changed; conditions and environment may
have taken its toll and also needed to be changed for the acceptance of it now. The
economical and environmental considerations need to be assessed to ensure its viability.
In conclusion, this text covers a lot of ground and should be of interest to everyone
involved with agriculture production and the academics of it.

Dr. Teang Shui Lee
Professor of Water Resources Engineering, Department of Agricultural and Biological
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra
Malaysia