Water management in fruit crops

1. Seminar
Incharge:
Dr. Vishal Rana
Speaker:
Garima Bhickta
H-15-44-M

2. Agriculture is the backbone of Indian Economy
AND
Water is the heart of Indian Agriculture

3. Water management
Water management refers to artificial ways
and means to provide a specific quantity of
water at an appropriate time to the effective
root zone of crops deriving maximum water
for higher application efficiency and water
use efficiency(WUE).
Water-use efficiency (WUE) refers to the ratio of water used in plant metabolism to water
lost by the plant through transpiration.

4. Terminology
Terms Definition
Percolation Vertical or downward movement of water in the saturated soil
Leaching: Downward movement of nutrients and salts from the root zone with water
Capillary
Water
Water which remains in the soil pore spaces after gravity drainage has occurred. This
water is available for plant use and exists in the soil under suctions in the range of 0.1 to
31 bars.
Effective
Rainfall
The portion of a rainfall that infiltrates into the soil and is stored for plant use in the crop
root zone. It is generally expressed as a depth of water over a unit area (e.g. in/acre).
Field
Capacity
The amount of water that a soil can retain against the gravitational pull.
Permanent
Wilting
Point
(PWP)
Also called the wilting point, PWP is the water content of the soil in the crop root zone
when the crop can no longer extract water from the soil.
Readily
Available
Water
The amount of water in a crop root zone that can be easily extracted by the crop.

5. Water Requirement The water needed for raising a crop in a given period. It includes
consumptive use and other economically unavoidable losses and that
applied for special operations such as land preparation,
transplanting, leaching etc.
Crop Water
Requirement
The total water needed for evapotranspiration from planting to harvest for a
given crop in a specific climatic regime when adequate soil water is
maintained by rainfall and/or irrigation so that it does not limit plant
growth and crop yield.
Net irrigation
requirement
This is the crop’s irrigation need (without including losses of any kind)
expressed as a mm/period.
Water holding
capacity
The weight of water held by a given quantity of absolutely dry soil when
saturated.
Evapotranspiration
(Et)
The amount of water lost by the plant through both evaporation and
transpiration.

7. Easily
accessible
surface
freshwater
Water within living
organisms 1%
Rivers 1%
Atmospheric
water vapor 8%
Freshwater
Total water
Fresh water 3%
Ground
water 20%
Easily
accessible
surface water
1%
Ice caps and
Glaciers 79%
Lakes 52%
Soil moisture 38%
Oceans 79%
Source :http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm
Worlds’ fresh water availability

8. Role of Water in Plant
Growth
 Water is a constituent of protoplasm.
 Water act as a solvent.
 It maintains turgidity of the cell.
 Plant can synthesis food through photosynthesis only
presence of water.
 Maintains required temperature.
 Helps in transpiration and translocation.
 Play role in germination of seeds.

9. Irrigation Water Management
 Why is Irrigation Water Management
Important?
– Manage soil moisture to promote desired crop
response.
– Optimize the use of available water supplies.
– Minimize irrigation induced erosion.
– Decrease non-point source pollution of surface
and groundwater resources.
– Manage salts in the crop root zone.
– Manage air, soil or plant micro-climate.

10. Efficient Water Management
Efficient water
management
When
Schedule of
time
Where
Place where
to give
How
System of
irrigation

11. How Much to Irrigate…..
 Crop
 Climate
 Season
 Soil Conditions
 Method of
Application
Water requirements vary depending on…

12. When to Irrigate……
The three approaches which are available for
scheduling irrigations are those based on
 Morphological and physiological conditions of the
plant
 Soil moisture condition
 Weather parameters

13. Available Soil Moisture
It has been a convention and even now it is a customary to consider “the
amount of soil moisture held between the two cardinal points viz., field
capacity (0.33 bars) and permanent wilting point (15 bars) as available soil
moisture”

14. Moisture holding properties in different soils
varying in texture
Soil Texture Inches of
water/inch of
soil
In. water/ ft of
soil
Coarse Sand
Fine Sand
Loamy Sand
Sandy Loam
Loamy-Clay
0.02-0.04
0.05-0.08
0.07-0.12
0.08-0.15
0.14-0.20
0.24-0.48
0.60-0.96
0.84-1.44
0.96-1.80
1.68-2.40
Ranges in Available Water Capacity for
Soil Textures
Water management (lecture notes) by Dr. V. Praveen Rao
Professor of Agronomy & IFFCO Chair

15. Irrigation scheduling
Scientific irrigation scheduling is a technique providing knowledge on correct time and
optimum quantity of water application at each irrigation to optimize crop yields with
maximum water use efficiency and at the same time ensuring minimum damage to the soil
properties.

16. USWB Class A Pan evaporimeter
Canopy temperature
Infrared thermometer for scheduling irrigations to crops

17. Tools for Monitoring Soil Moisture

18. Method Merits
Gravimetric Method Simple and accurate. Estimate the moisture
in soil as percentage by screw auger.
Volumetric Method Tube auger is used to take known volume of
soil.
Rapid Moisture method It operates on the principle that calcium
carbide can convert free moisture into
acetylene gas. Gas produced is directly
proportional to moisture content.
Sulphuric Acid Method The rise in temperature of acid soil mix
depends upon the moisture content in it.
Electrical Resistance Block
(Gypsum Block)
The resistance to the flow of electricity is
inversely proportional to moisture content
in the porous medium.

19. Neutron Moisture Meter The hydrogen atoms of water molecules
retard the spread of high energy neutron
molecules. Hence, the reduction in speed is
directly proportional to amount of water in
soil.
Tensiometers The vacuum created by outward movement
of moisture from an air tight tube is
proportional to soil moisture tension
outside the tube.

21. WATER REQUIREMENT
 Quantity of water regardless of it’s source required by a crop or
diversified pattern of crops in a given period of it’s normal growth
under field condition at a given place.
 Consumption Use(CU)=Evapo-transpiration+Water required for
metabolic processes
 So WR=CU(ET)+Application losses+ Water for special purpose
 Again WR=IR+ER+S
Where IR=Irrigation Requirement
ER=Effective rainfall
S=Soil water contribution
 So IR=WR-(ER+S)

22. V = Ep x Kc x Kp x Wp x Sp
Where
V = Volume of water required by plant (lit/day)
Ep = Pan evaporation (mm / day)
Kc = Crop factor/crop coefficient (0.4-0.9 depending upon crop stage) opt 0.8
Wp = Wetted area (0.3)
Sp = Spacing of crop (m2) (eg. 9 x 9 = 81 m2)
CROP WATER REQUIREMENT (Daily)
Month
Pan
evapora-
tion (mm)
Month
Pan
Evapora-
tion (mm)
Month
Pan
Evapora-
tion (mm)
Jan. 99.2 May 245.4 Sept. 134.6
Feb. 119.6 June 198.8 Oct. 144.6
March 176.3 July 145.6 Nov. 112.2
April 210.3 August 134.6 Dec. 94.4
Total 1815.6
Table : Normal monthly Pan Evaporation data
Source Indian Government
Weather Bureau

23. Crops Depth to Irrigate (cm)
Apples 90
Cherries 60
Grapes 90
Peaches 60
Pears 60
Raspberries 60
Strawberries 30
Irrigation depth for various fruit
crops

24. Fruit Number of irrigations
Feb ma
r
Ap
r
may Jun
e
July
-
Sept
Oct Nov
-
Jan
Tot
al
Quantity
of water
(cm)
Critical period
Aonla - - 2 2 2 - 2 2 10 60 Apr-june
Oct-Dec
Apple
and Pear
- 1 3 3 3 5 1 3 19 114 Apr-aug
Oct-Feb
Banana 2 4 4 4 4 3 2 6 29 174 Mar-June
Ber 1 1 - - - - - 4 6 36 Nov-March
Mandari
n
- 2 2 2 1 2 2 3 14 84 Mar-june
Grape 1 - 3 3 1 - - - 8 48 Apr-june
Mango 1 1 1 1 1 - - 1 6 36 Feb-june
Papaya 2 4 4 4 4 1 1 9 29 87 Mar-June
Water requirement estimations in fruit crops
O.P, Advances in Horticultiure, K.L. Chadha.

26. RAIN WATER HARVESTING

30. Effect of rain water harvesting and moisture conservation
techniques on fruit yield and quality in apple
Dinesh
kumar et al
Central
Institute of
Temperate
Horticulture,
Old Air
Field,
Rangreth,
Srinagar,
(2013)

31.  IRRIGATION METHODS
a) Surface Irrigation: Just flooding water. About 90% of the irrigated
areas in the world are by this method.
b) Sprinkler Irrigation: Applying water under pressure. About 5 % of
the irrigated areas are by this method.
c) Drip or Trickle Irrigation: Applying water slowly to the soil ideally
at the same rate with crop consumption.
d) Sub-Surface Irrigation: Flooding water underground and allowing
it to come up by capillarity to crop roots.

32. Lateral System On Wheel

33. Linear movement system
Central Pivot
System

36. DRIP OR TRICKLE IRRIGATION
Drip irrigation is defined as the precise, slow and frequent application of small
quantities of water to the soil in the form of discrete drops, continuous drops, and
tiny streams through emitters located at selected points along a water delivery
lateral line.
ANCIENT METHOD OF DRIP IRRIGATION

37. Installation Procedure

38. Mainline and subline fixation

39. Grommet hole punching

43. Lateral line installation

44. Lateral line connecting to sub main

46. Table:14. Effect of different fertigation level on yield and
quality of banana cv. Basrai
GAU, Gandevi Patel.et al (2003)
T1- 200g each N and K2O /plant. T2- 150g each N and K2O /plant.
T3- 100g each N and K2O /plant. T4- 200g each N and K2O /plant.
Treatments
Bunch
Weight
(kg)
Yield
(t/ha)
Stem
Girth
No. of
Leaves
Pulp
Skin
ratio
T.S.S.
(0 Brix)
(A) Through drip
T1 16.93 105.84 64.87 21.70 2.86 19.32
T2 16.73 104.50 62.13 20.57 2.64 19.22
T3 13.37 83.55 61.93 20.97 2.71 18.92
(B) Flooding (Control)
T4 14.97 93.32 61.30 19.73 2.72 19.31
CD at 5% 2.15 13.45 1.10 1.13 NS NS

47. CROPS CONVENTIONAL
IRRIGATION (t/ha)
DRIP
IRRIGATION (t/ha)
YIELD
INCREASE
(%)
Banana 57.5 87.5 52
Grape 26.4 32.5 23
Sweet lime 100.0 150.0 50
Pomegranate 55.0 109.0 98
Papaya 13.4 23.5 75
Tomato 32.0 48.0 50
Water melon 24.0 45.0 88
Okra 15.3 17.7 16
Chilies 4.2 6.1 44
Sweet potato 4.2 5.9 39
Irrigation and Water Management Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research
Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh Biswas et al (2015)

48. CROP Yield increase
(%)
Water saving (%) Increase in
WUE
Banana 52 45 176
Grape 23 48 136
Sweet lime 50 61 289
Pomegranate 45 45 167
Water melon 88 36 195
Regional Research Centre, Dr. YSR University Of Horticulture, Hessarghatta, Karnataka A. Narayanamoorthy(2004)

49. Comparative Study of drip irrigation and surface irrigation method
on yield parameter and other characters of mango cv. Dashehari
Treatments
No. of
fruits/plant
Weight of
fruit (kg)
Yield
(t/ha)
Weed
control (%)
Moisture
(%)
T1 194.31 138.70 15.94 13.67 79.10
T2 222.67 142.15 23.30 54.35 80.71
T3 360.27 125.68 20.99 34.56 78.10
T4 293.14 153.25 25.63 65.39 78.53
T5 278.71 146.12 23.34 29.62 80.06
T6 328.53 161.18 28.30 85.98 77.10
T7 239.30 148.19 22.95 32.10 79.60
T8 366.17 163.65 29.80 90.20 77.90
T9 225.23 141.55 20.61 30.73 75.62
CD at 5% 27.96 4.41 1.89 12.29 0.69
IGAU, Raipur Agrawal et al. (2005)
T1: Basin irrigation with V-volume of water T2: Basin irrigation with V-volume of water + plastic mulch
T3: Drip irrigation with V-volume of water T4: Drip irrigation with V-volume of water + plastic mulch
T5: Drip irrigation with 0.8 V-volume of water T6: Drip irrigation with 0.8 V-volume of water + plastic mulch
T7: Drip irrigation with 0.6 V-volume of water T8: Drip irrigation with 0.6 V-volume of water + plastic mulch
T9: Drip irrigation with 0.4 V-volume of watern + plastic mulch

50. FERTIGATION
Fertigation is a technology for distributing fertilizers to the crop
along with water through drip irrigation on a continual basis in
controlled manner so as to allow for steady flow of nutrients by
plants and to effect inputs of both water and fertilizer (Pandey et
al., 2013).

52. Solubility of common fertilizers in water (kg fertilizer/m3)
Fertilizer
Solubility (0C)
(kg fertilizer/m3)
Ammonium nitrate 1950 (20 0 C)
Monoammonium phosphate 282 (20 0 C)
DAP 575 (10 0 C)
AS 760 (20 0 C)
Potassium chloride 347 (20 0 C)
Potassium nitrate 316 (20 0 C)
Potassium sulphate 110 (20 0 C)
Monopotasssium phosphate 330 (25 0 C)
Dipotassium phosphate 1670 (20 0 C)
Calcium nitrate 3410 (25 0 C)
Magnesium nitrate 423 (18 0 C)
Monocalcium phosphate 18 (30 0 C)
Phosphoric acid 5480 (25 0 C)
Urea 1193 (25 0 C)

53. Comparison of application of fertilizers and
fertigation in papaya
Parameter Soil application Fertigation Increase over Soil
application(%)
Plant height (cm) 288.3 327.7 -
No. of fruits/plant 76.4 94.7 23.9
Average fruit weight
(kg)
1.86 2.43 30.6
Fruit length 26.3 29.6 12.5
Fruit circumference
(cm)
43.6 51.4 17.8
TSS(B) 11.2 12.4 10.7
Jayakumar et al. (2001)

54. Crop
Water
saving
(%)
Yield (t/ha) Profit (Rs/ha)
Conventional Drip
Drip+
fertgn
Conventional Drip
Drip+
fertgn
Banana 35 26 30 37 81,000 98,0001,20,000

55. Growth attributes of papaya as influenced by
fertigation
TNAU., Coimbatore Jeyakumar et al.,
(2001)
N:13.5g/p/week, P:278g/p/biomonthly and K: 10.5g/p/week

56. Yield and its attributes influenced by fertigation in papaya
Characters Control Fertigated % increased
over control
Number of fruits/plant 76.40 94.73 23.9
Fruit weight(10 fruits) (kg) 1.86 2.43 30.6
Fruit length (cm) 26.3 29.6 12.5
Fruit circumference (cm) 43.6 51.4 17.8
Fruit volume (cc) 2021 2860 41.5
Pulp thickness (cm) 2.35 2.92 24.5
Cavity index 18.0 21.92 21.7
Dry seed weight (g/fruit) 16.45 18.56 12.82
TSS (◦brix) 11.2 12.4 10.7
T.N.A.U., Coimbatore Jeyakumar et al., (2001)
N:13.5g/p/week, P:278g/p/biomonthly and K: 10.5g/p/week

57. Fertigation studies in papaya
Characters
Control (irrigation by
basin method once in a
week)
Fertigated
(irrigation@
10lit/day)
Plant height (cm) 288.3 327.7
First flowering height (cm) 108.2 91.5
Water use efficiency 3.47 4.72
Number of fruits 76.40 94 .73
Fruit Circumference (cm) 43.6 51.4
Fruit weight (kg) 1.86 2.43
Pulp thickness (cm) 2.35 2.92
TSS (0brix) 11.2 12.4
TNAU, Coimbatore Jeyakumar et al. (2001)

58. Water Stress Condition in Fruit Crops……
 In Fruit crops, water stress is very useful as horticultural tool
 Water stress condition at the time of fruit bud differentiation
helps in good setting in several tropical fruits, i.e. Mango,
Guava, Litchi, Citrus
 Moisture level should be brought to normal level soon after the
FBD is over
 Prolonged stress is injurious to fruit crops, increase in % of
flower abscission
 Water stress in Guava induces better fruiting in Winter

59. Drip Irrigation
system- induce early bunch
formation and around 40-45%
water can be saved.
Drip system has to be
operated daily for 2-3 1/2
hours
Delay in irrigation
for banana results in
delay in bunch
formation, maturity of
bunch and quality also
will be effected

60. Apple Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Pear Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Peaches Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Plums Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Nectarines Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Cherries Early fruit set, during flower formation, and during final fruit swell
Blueberries Berry swell to end of harvest and at bud formation for next year's crop (late
July and August)
Raspberries Bloom and as berries are sizing before first picking
Blackberries Bloom and as berries are sizing before first picking
Strawberries At planting, during runner formation, during flowerbud formation before
harvest begins.
Critical Stages In fruit Crops
William J. Lamont (PennState Extension)

62.  Hence, Water management refers to artificial application of
water i.e. (IRRIGATION) in crop root zones in case of soil
moisture deficit and removal of water i.e. ( DRAINAGE) from
the root zone in case of excess so as to provide the crops a most
optimum soil moisture regime for best production.
 Scientific & judicious water use through advanced irrigation
system need to implement in different parts of country to offset the
water shortage.
 Timing of the water & nutrient application should be need &
system based.
 These fertigation & water experiments have clearly elucidated the
marked saving in fertilizers (20-40%) and water (50-75%)