Irrigation Scheduling of Potato Using Class A Pan Under Drip and Surface Irrigation Systems

A field experiment was conducted at El-Qanater Horticultural Research station, Qalubia Governorate, Egypt during 2018 and 2019 winter seasons to study the effects of two irrigation systems (drip and surface) and three irrigation interval treatments, i.e. 1.4, 1.2, and 1.0 cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) on potato growth and yield parameters (plant height, fresh and dry tuber yields, and total soluble solid contents (TSS), and on the amounts of applied irrigation water (AIW), water consumption, water use efficiency (WUE), and water productivity (WP). The results of both seasons indicated that, irrigation systems and interval treatments significantly affected all the tested traits. Drip irrigation system produced significantly higher fresh and dry tuber yields than surface irrigation system. Results also showed that, the 1.4 CPE irrigation interval treatment recorded significantly highest fresh potato tuber yields (14.41 and 14.49 t/fed) and dry tuber yields (2.55 and 2.47 t/fed) in 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively. Results indicated that average AIW values under drip irrigation system were 1565 and 1494 m3/fed, while average applied irrigation water values were 2778 and 2667 m3/fed for surface irrigation system in 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively. The average WUE values were higher under drip irrigation system (9.08 and 9.59 kg/m3) than under surface irrigation system (5.32 and 6.05 kg/m3) in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively. The WP values were higher under drip irrigation system (8.38 and 8.84 kg/m3) than under surface irrigation system (3.54 and 4.02 kg/m3) in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, respectively. It is recommended to use the drip irrigation system with the 1.4 CPE interval to obtain high potato yield and save irrigation water.