Deficit irrigation: A potential concept of irrigation for sustainable fruit production under water scarce conditions Jat Rajkumar1,*, Kumar Virendra1, Singh Vijay Pratap2 1Department of Horticulture, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263145, Udham Singh Nagar, (Uttarakhand) 2School of Agriculture, Uttarakhand Open University, Haldwani-263139, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding Author Email- rajrulez95@gmail.com
Online published on 20 May, 2023. Abstract Water scarcity in almost all areas of the world is becoming a major threat to crop production. The shortage of freshwater resources has prompted research into water-saving agriculture techniques with the goal of growing more crops per drop. India accounts 18% of the world population consist of 4% of world's fresh water, out of which 80% is used in agriculture because of rapid ground water depletion and poor irrigation infrastructure. Due to less efficiency of surface irrigation system i.e. 38%, irrigated area accounts for nearly 48.8% in India. This area can be increased with utilization of micro-irrigation techniques (drip and sprinkler) and also further increased by utilizing deficit irrigation technique in water scarce areas. These technologies efficiently uses irrigation water which is the foremost priority for sustainable fruit production systems. Drip and sprinkler irrigation are preferred over traditional methods, and have been further refined to evolve the concept of deficit irrigation (DI). The application of water below the evapotranspiration (ET) requirement of a crop is termed as deficit irrigation (DI). New DI approaches such as regulated irrigation deficit (RDI) and partial rootzone drying (PRD) based on best use of allocated water as per plant physiology rather than full water requirement were developed to optimize the efficiency of water use. Deficit irrigation is more effective in fruit crops and vines as compared to field crops because the return in fruit crops is also attributed to quality of produce, not directly linked to biomass production and water use. Several research publications have recorded the benefits of using DI in citrus, mango, pomegranate, grapes and other temperate fruit crops. Thus, application of deficit irrigation with drip irrigation method in fruit crops can lower irrigation water up to 50% of the commercial irrigation, and enhance water use efficiency up to 80–92%. Top Keywords Deficit irrigation, Fruit crops, Yield, Quality and Water use efficiency (WUE). Top |