Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Field Crops Research, Agricultural Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El-Behooth St., Giza, Egypt.
2
Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
3
Department of Field Irrigation and Drainage Engineering Research, Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Nadi El Seid St., Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
4
Department of Water and Irrigation Systems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
In regions suffering from water scarcity, as in the study area, it is increasingly important to seek management techniques to use water resources better to ensure high productivity sustainably. Two field trials were conducted to compare the efficiency of two irrigation systems (drip and sprinkler) on cotton fertilized with compost compared with traditional organic fertilizer, Farm Yard Manure (FYM), in crop rotation in winter, summer, and biannual application in sandy soil, Nubaria district. The results showed that irrigation type significantly influenced cotton productivity, and the highest yields generally occurred with drip irrigation compared with sprinkler irrigation. N fertilization, time of compost application, and irrigation method had significant effects on seed-cotton yield, and significant interactions among these management factors on yield. The main effects of application time and frequency on seed-cotton yield showed that yield decreased significantly when compost was supplied at a rate of 20 m3 fed-1 in both winter and summer. Drip irrigation significantly increased seed-cotton yield compared with sprinkler. These different crop management methods' complex and interactive effects showed that drip irrigation consistently produced the largest yield response compared with sprinkler irrigation. However, comparable yields with sprinkler irrigation were obtained with compost supplied in summer or winter, without additional mineral N. There was no yield benefit from supplying inorganic N fertilizer with compost under drip irrigation management. High crop productivity was maintained with drip irrigation for the W+S treatment but yield with compost was severely diminished with sprinkler irrigation when compost was supplied to the experimental plots in both winter and summer. Drip irrigation efficiency was greater than sprinkler irrigation, which reflected on cotton yield characters where open bolls per plant, boll weight, and seed-cotton yield under drip irrigation surpassed the sprinkler irrigation by 18, 30, and 35%, respectively, regardless of the fertilizer treatments.
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