Design and Management of a Drip Irrigation System f or an Optimum Potato Yield

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects o f different lateral spacings and wetting factors on the yield and yield components o f drip-irrigated potato under the Middle Anatolian climatic conditions in Konya, Turk ey. The experiments were carried out during the growth seasons of 2008 and 2009. The Russet Burbank potato variety was used as a plant material in this study. The irrigat ion design treatments consisted of two different lateral spacings (A 1 = 0.7 m and A 2 = 1.4 m) and three different wetting factors (P 1 = 1.0, P 2 = 0.5, and P 3 : A variable percentage of the wetted area dependin g on the lateral spacing). The results showed that the total amounts of applied irrigation water ranged from 297 to 625 mm and from 288 to 598 mm in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Considering the average yields for the two years, t he highest tuber yield (50.87 t ha –1 ) was obtained from the A 1 P 1 treatment, and the lowest tuber yield (27.37 t ha –1 ) was obtained from the A 2 P 3 treatment. It was found that the different lateral spacings and wetting factors statistically affected the mean tuber weigh t, the number of tubers per plant, the tuber diameter, the tuber size, and the marketable tuber yield (P< 0.01). The highest Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and Irrigation Water Use E fficiency (IWUE) calculated were 7.78 and 9.40 kg m −3 , respectively, in the A 1 P 3 treatment. A single lateral design for two crop rows resulted in less income than one late ral design for each crop row for drip- irrigated marketable potatoes. Keywords: Konya Plain, Lateral spacing, Percentage of wetted area, Water use efficiency.