Water Savings upon Conversion from Seepage to Sprinkler Overhead Irrigation for Potato Production: A Three-year On-farm Study

This three-year study evaluated water savings by converting seepage to sprinkler-overhead for commercial potato production. This study was conducted on a private farm with 526 hectare (1300 acres) grown ‘Atlantic’ and ‘Red LaSoda’ in three consecutive growing seasons from 2012 to 2015. Two irrigation treatments were used: seepage and sprinkler-overhead (center-pivot) irrigation with four replications. Plot size was 405 m² (0.1 acres). Water usage, water table level, soil moisture, leaf water potential, leaf greenness, tuber yield and quality were evaluated. There were significant reductions of 57.5% in water usage with sprinkler irrigation as compared to seepage. The reduction in water usage on the farm was 1.50, 1.41, and 0.78 million m³/season for the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015 growing seasons, respectively. The respective potato tuber yields were 15.7 and 14.6; 21.3 and 19.0; and 23.5 and 20.2 ton/ha for seepage and springer over-head irrigation.  Potato tuber quality was similar for the two irrigation systems. Nitrogen use efficiency was 135 and 127; 188 and 171; and 208 and 180 kg/kg for the two irrigation systems. Seepage was 10% greater in both yields and N use efficiency than sprinkler-overhead irrigation. Further adjustments in the timing of fertilizer application might be required for sprinkler overhead- irrigation. Fertigation might be a viable option for sprinkler-overhead irrigation for potato production.

Keywords: conservation agriculture; water savings; Solanum tuberosum L.; tuber yield