Comparative Evaluation of Different Micro Irrigation Methods in Crop Geometry of Banana

Abstract

The major problem associated with the banana cultivation is the excess amount of irrigation water required in the conventional farming method. Efficient application of water to the fruit crops is a very important consideration to improve the economy. The present study of comparing different micro irrigation systems on the crop geometry of banana is used to analyze the influence of irrigation biometrically and to identify the best micro irrigation method. The study was conducted by applying five treatments such as Basin irrigation, KAU micro sprinkler, ALBL micro sprinkler, Bubbler and Dripper. An experimental plot of PFDC was selected and the total area was divided into six rows and of ten basins, each with three suckers. The biometric observation such as yield, height, girth and number of leaves were taken for the comparative evaluation. The statistical analysis of the observed data shows that there is no significant difference among different irrigation methods in yield as well as crop growth. The testing pressures selected for the performance evaluation were 1.0 kg/cm2, 0.75 kg/cm2 and 0.5 kg/cm2. The functional performance of the emitters was determined by analyzing the pressure - flow rate relationship. The various performance indices such as CUC, COV, DC and Distribution pattern were used to describe the uniformity of application of the emitters .It is observed that COV and CUC values were higher for ALBL micro sprinkler. The Distribution Characteristic of the emitters reveals that the ALBL micro sprinkler shows good characteristic and that of Bubbler and KAU are satisfactory. Economic analysis has been done for all the irrigation methods studied. The B/C ratio among different micro irrigation methods did not show much variation while that of the basin irrigation system was very low. The Benefit-Cost ratio obtained from Basin, KAU micro sprinkler, ALBL micro sprinkler, Bubbler and Dripper are 1.27, 2.12, 2.1, 2.13 and 2.11 respectively.