INCREASING WATER PRODUCTIVITY BY USING LOW PRESSURE IRRIGATION SYSTEM

摘要

Increasing the productivity of water used in agriculture is essential to meet the goals of foodrnand environment security. Water productivity is generally defined as crop yield per cubicrnmeter of water consumption (WP). WP depends on several factors, such as crop, climate,rnirrigation technology, field water management, land and infrastructure, and input (includingrnlabor, fertilizer and machinery). Low pressure irrigation system with Hydroflume increasesrnefficiency of surface irrigation by saving water (or energy) and fertilizer consumption. Itrnpermits easy movement of machinery and tractors, reduces labor cost and increasesrnproduction of all crops. Using this system, the water use efficiency increases to 70% orrnmore. Canals are eliminated and as a result, more area can be cultivated. Isfahan province,rncentral Iran, has great potentials in agriculture. About 6% of thr crops in the country arernproduced in Isfahan. The province is located mostly in semi-arid region and the averagernannual rainfall is 125 mm, which is less than the average annual rainfall in Iran. So it isrnessential that farmers preserve water for overcoming the limitation of rainfall. The studyrnindicates that water productivity has been increased by using of Hydroflume pipe in thernIsfahan farms.