Water use efficiency and yield of winter wheat under different irrigation regimes in a semi-arid region

• DOI: 10.4236/as.2011.23036
• Publication Date: 2011-08-29T05:07:09Z
• Authors: Mohamed Hakim Kha...; Salah Er-Raki; Ahmed Chehbouni; Benoit Duchemin; Vincent Simonneaux; Michel LePage; Lahcen Ouzine; Lionel Jarlan
• Keywords: Irrigation scheduling; Surface irrigation; Crop coefficient; Water Use Efficiency; Low-flow irrigation systems; Water use

In irrigation schemes under rotational water supply in semiarid region, the allocation and scheduling are often based on a fixed-area proportionate depth with every cycle irrespective of crops their growth stages, for an equitable supply. An experiment was conducted during 2004- 2005 season Haouz irrigated area Morocco, which objective i) to evaluate effects surface method (existing rule) adopted by agency winter wheat production compared full ii) drip versus impacts saving yield wheat. The methodology FAO-56 dual approach scheduling. Ground measurements Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used derive basal crop coefficient vegetation fraction cover. simple For irrigation, existing rule resulted WUE reductions 22% 15%, respectively, optimized proposed treatment. This revealed negative schedules productivity. It also demon-strated that applied more efficient 20% comparison (full treatment). Drip gives higher (+28% +52% treatments respectively). same improvement observed use efficiency (+24 +59%