The Effect of Alternate Partial Irrigation on the Productivity and Water Use Efficiency of Potatoes crop

Abstract

This research was conducted in ALderkhabia in countryside rural Damascus during the season 2021, to study the to study the possibility of improving the water use efficiency of Potatoes crop by applying Alternative Partial Irrigation.

The experiment was designed by simple random design with five treatments of water quantities during different stages of plant growth in three replications for each treatment. The treatments were as follows:

Full irrigation treatment FI (control), Alternating partial irrigation 80% of full irrigation for all growth stages API80, Alternating partial irrigation 80% of full irrigation for both stages (tuber filling and maturity) API80TF, Alternating partial irrigation 70% of full irrigation for all growth stages API70 , Alternate partial irrigation treatment 70% of full irrigation for the two stages (tuber filling and maturity) API70TF.

The results showed the superiority of the treatment 100% of full irrigation in terms of production  by non-significant differences compared to the two Alternate partial irrigation treatments 80% amd 70% of full irrigation for the two stages (tuber filling and maturity) API70TF. The highest value of water use was also recorded in Alternate partial irrigation treatment 70% of full irrigation for the two stages (tuber filling and maturity) API70TF, which is 6.59 kg/m³, and it was higher than it is in the treatment of full irrigation by 33%. And Alternate partial irrigation treatment 80% of full irrigation for the two stages (tuber filling and maturity) also achieved a higher value for water use of water by 30% compared to its value in full irrigation treatment. Its value in this treatment reached 6.34 kg/m³ .

Through these results, it was found that the success of implementing partial alternating irrigation on the potato crop requires not apply it in the early stages of growth, and that the optimal period of apply it extends during the growth and filling of tubers until the end of the maturity stage. with confirmation on the importance of using one of the two methods of partial irrigation, alternating 80% of full irrigation for the two stages of tuber filling and maturity API80TF, and alternating partial irrigation 70% of full irrigation for the two stages of filling tubers and maturity API70TF, Because they have not caused any significant decrease in productivity, and they have achieved saving of water that can be used to irrigate additional areas.