Water use efficiency of cabbage as influenced by irrigation schedules and fertigation levels

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 to investigate the effect of irrigation schedules and fertigation levels on water use efficiency of cabbage during the winter season at AICRP on Water Management, VNMKV, Parbhani. Drip method with alternate day irrigation was adopted for all the plots with five irrigation levels as main plot viz., 0.4 ETc (I1), 0.6 ETc (I2), 0.8 ETc (I3), 1.0 ETc (I4) and 1.2 ETc (I5). Fertigation levels were 50% (F1), 75% (F2) and 100% (F3) of recommended dose of fertilizers (120:60:60; N: P2O5:K2O kg ha-1) with eight splits during crop growth period. All the treatments were replicated thrice. Irrigation level 0.4 ETc (I1) resulted to give the highest WUE of 165.97, 146.186 and 156.26 kg ha-mm-1 during 2016-17, 2017-18 and in pooled results whereas the lowest WUE of 76.95, 68.66 and 72.89 kg ha-mm-1 was observed under 1.2 ETc (I5) irrigation level. Fertigation with125% RDF (F3) gave the highest water use efficiency of 116.39, 104.88 and 110.74 kg ha-mm-1 by producing higher curd yields during 2016-17, 2017-18 and in pooled, respectively. The lowest WUE was noticed under 75% RDF (F1) because of lower curd yields. The highest WUE was recorded in treatment combination I1F3 followed by I1F2. The lowest WUE was noticed under 75% RDF (F1) because of lower curd yields. The highest WUE was recorded in treatment combination I1F3 followed by I1F2.