INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATION AND FERTIGATION ON YIELD, PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMIC RETURNS OF DRIP IRRIGATED POTATO UNDER SEMI-ARID ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted in sandy loam soil to study the effect of variable irrigation and fertigation on yield, irrigation production efficiency and economic return of potato during 2001- 03 in semi-arid environment. The treatments consisted of four irrigation levels viz., I₁ (IW/CPE = 1.20); I₂ (IW/CPE = 1.00); I₃ (IW/CPE = 0.80) and I₄ (IW/CPE= 0.60) and three fertigation (N:P₂ O₅ :K₂ O) levels i.e. F₁ (187:63:125), F₂ (141:47:93) and F₃ (93:32:63) kg/ha. Irrigation level I₁ produced significantly higher fresh tuber yield (28.04 t/ha) which was at par with I₂ (26.52 t/ha). The maximum fresh tuber yield of 25.96 t/ha was obtained in fertigation level F₁ , which was 3.71 and 17.82% higher than F₂ and F₃ , respectively. Irrigation level I₃ had maximum production efficiency (12.78 kg/m₃ ), whereas the highest nutrient use efficiency was observed in fertigation level F₃ (115.65 kg/kg). The gross return and net return were higher at irrigation level I₃ and fertigation level F₁