Productivity and water use efficiency (WUE) of Arecanut as influenced by drip irrigation

摘要

An experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during 2001-03 to study the effect of different methods of irrigations i. e, conventional drip, pitcher drip and bamboo drip with or without mulch in Arecanut. The yield and yield attributing characters and water use efficiency (WUE) were found to be superior in plants under irrigation treatments than those under rainfed (control). The plants under pitcher drip with black polyethylene mulch recorded the highest yield (18.15 t/ha) and WUE (1.509 t/ha-cm) followed by plants under bamboo drip with black polyethylene mulch (yield : 15.22 t/ha and WUE : 1.273 t/ha-cm) and conventional drip with black polyethylene mulch (yield : 14.90 t/ha and WUE : 1.216 t/ ha-cm), while the lowest yield (5.09 t/ha) as well as WUE (0.314 t/ha-cm) were recorded under control.