Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Soil Chemistry and Physics Department, Desert Research Center, The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Cairo, Egypt.
2
Department of Water and Irrigation Systems Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
Given the limited water resources, maximizing water productivity and feed quality in arid and semi-arid environments, particularly in sandy soils with low water-holding capacity, is a significant challenge for maintaining livestock productivity. A study was conducted for two successive winter seasons (2022/2023 and 2023/2024) in the Al-Farafra Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt, to evaluate the impacts of irrigation techniques (IT) and soil amendment rates (AR) on the performance of winter alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). This study compares two irrigation management strategies, smart irrigation technique (SIT) and manual irrigation technique (MIT), under two irrigation systems: sprinkler irrigation (SI) and leaky pipe irrigation (LPI). Four soil amendment rates were used: T1 (0 t fed-1clay, 0 kg fed-1 humic acid, 0 t fed-1 biochar), T2 (5 t fed-1, 10 kg fed-1, 3 t fed- 1), T3 (10 t fed-1, 20 kg fed-1, 5 t fed-1), and T4 (15 t fed-1, 30 kg fed-1, 7 t fed-1). The combination of SIT, LPI, and highest AR T4 was significantly greater in forage quality, marketable yield (MY), water use efficiency (WUE), and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) than all other treatments. The highest values of MY were (22.96 and 23.11 t ha-1), WUE (3.04 and 3.09 kg m-3), and IWUE (2.75 and 2.79 kg m-3) were found during the first and second respective seasons at SIT and T4 under LPI treatment. In contrast, the lowest performance was recorded at MIT and T1 under SI treatment. The water consumption (WC) and irrigation water application (IR) were also reduced by up to 30 and 20%, respectively, under the best treatment. In conclusion, the combination of smart irrigation practices, efficient ways to deliver water, and amending soils in a purposefully efficacious manner is a sustainable method to improve water productivity, mitigate water losses, and improve alfalfa forage quality. Treatment T3 provided similar results to T4 at lower costs and with fewer amendment inputs. This work demonstrates a useful method to optimize water usage in agricultural practices, including in arid parts of the world like Egypt, to sustain agriculture, support farmers, and improve food security in the future.
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