Evaluation of different methods of irrigation and mulching for enhancing water use efficiency in cotton
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Date
2015
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is one of the most important cash crops. India is amongst largest cotton producing countries. The genetically modified Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton is getting popularity among the growers due to its higher yield potential over the conventional varieties of cotton. Therefore, field experiments were carried out at Research Farm of Department of Soil Science of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during 2013 and 2014 for evaluating different methods of irrigation and mulching rate for enhancing water use efficiency in cotton. The experiments consisted of two irrigation scheduling as main treatments, three irrigation methods (drip, furrow and flood) and four wheat straw mulching rate (0, 2, 4, 6 ton/ha) as sub-treatments. The experiments were carried out with four cotton cultivars viz., Bt (MRC-7017), Bt (RCH-134), American (H-1236) and Desi (HD-123) in three replicates. Application of wheat straw mulching @ 6t ha-1 increased SOC significantly by 10.9 %, 6.4 % and 8.5 % at 0-5 cm, and 13.3 %, 12.5 % and 10.7 % at 5-10 cm under drip, furrow and flood irrigations, respectively, during 2013 over the control treatment. The effect of mulching @ 4t ha -1 on SOC was observed to be statistically at par with mulching @ 6t ha-1. Wheat straw mulching applied @ 4 and 6t ha-1 decreased soil bulk density under drip, furrow and flood irrigation at both the moisture regimes over the control treatment up to 10 cm depth during 2013 and up to 15 cm during 2014. Wheat straw mulching @ 4t ha-1 increased saturated hydraulic conductivity, water stable aggregates, maximum water holding capacity and soil profile moisture at both the moisture regimes in all the cotton varieties. The effect of mulching @ 4t ha-1 on soil properties was found statistically at par with mulch @ 6t ha-1.The application of wheat straw mulching @ 4 and 6t ha-1 significantly increased soil moisture contents during the month of May and June in 2013 and 2014. The application of wheat straw mulch increased seed cotton yield, seed cotton yield per plant, number of bolls per plant, boll weight, and water use efficiency. The effect of mulching @ 4t ha-1 on seed cotton yield, yield attributes and WUE was also found statistically at par with mulch @ 6t ha-1. The moisture regimes affected the root growth pattern and length for all the four cotton varieties. Amongst the varieties, the longest root length was observed in Desi (HD-123) in flood irrigation, whereas, shortest under drip irrigation.
The results concluded that wheat straw mulch @ 4t ha-1 resulted in improving soil physical properties favourable for plant growth. Drip irrigation at P.E. of 0.8 with wheat straw mulch @ 4t ha-1 resulted in highest WUE for American (H-1236) followed by Bt (MRC-7017). The Hydrus-2D model performed well for simulating soil water in drip irrigated soil under field conditions.
Hence, drip irrigation has potential to increase the seed cotton yield and improve soil properties under wheat straw mulching in arid and semi arid climatic conditions.
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Keywords
Irrigation, Cultivation, Crop residues, Irrigation methods, Cotton, Planting, Mulches, Yields, Wheat, Trickle irrigation