Improving productivity of citrus orchards with rainwater harvesting and micro-irrigation in a sub-humid region
2015
Panigrahi, Pravukalyan (ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, Odisha (India)) | Srivastava, Kumar Anup (ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Maharashtra (India)) | Huchche, Ambadas D. (ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Maharashtra (India))
Scarcity of water is one of the major factors affecting productivity and decline of citrus orchards. The uneven distribution of rain in space and time induces abundant runoff in tropics. The higher runoff in monsoon period and soil moisture shortage in post monsoon induces sub-optimum yield of citrus orchards. Rainwater harvesting and its efficient utilization in citrus orchards is need of the hour for sustainable citriculture. Keeping this in view, the study was conducted to explore the feasibility of rainwater harvesting and it's use through drip irrigation in citrus orchards. Various in-situ rainwater conservation treatments viz., continuous trenching, continuous bunding, staggered trenching between the rows across the slope (4.2%) and control (without any soil and water conservation treatment) were evaluated in citrus orchards of central India during 2006-2009. The continuous trenching produced the best response conserving 38% runoff and 32.28% soil besides 15.7% higher fruit yield with better fruit quality. Moreover, rainfall runoff from 3.2 hectare of land with continuous trenches was harvested in a tank of size 35m×35m×3m and recycled with drip irrigation with black plastic mulch in 1ha of Nagpur mandarin. The harvested water also recharged the groundwater in the nearby wells and water from wells was used for irrigation purpose during dry period. Over all, the fruit yield was enhanced up to 110% with better quality fruits under rainwater conservation practices and groundwater use over rain-fed trees. The study suggested for the combine use of rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation with plastic mulch for sustainable production of citrus in the regions having similar agro-climates of the study region.
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