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Research Article
A field experiment was conducted at Werer, Middle Awash Valley during the dry season of the
2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to investigate the effects of mulching materials and furrow
irrigation methods on onion yield and water productivity under semi-arid conditions. Split plot
design with three replications, in which the irrigation methods (Conventional, Fixed and Alternate
Furrow) were assigned to the main plot and the three mulching materials (no mulch, wheat straw
and white plastic mulch), were to the sub-plot. Results indicate that marketable onion bulb yield
and water use efficiency were affected by the main effect of furrow irrigation methods and
mulching materials (p< 0.05). But the interaction of irrigation methods and mulch had no
significant effect on marketable onion bulb yield and water use efficiency. The conventional
furrow irrigation (10081.52kg ha-1) and wheat straw mulch (12121.63 kg ha-1) resulted in the
maximum marketable bulb yield. The highest water use efficiency (3.27 kg/m3) was obtained from
alternate furrow irrigation method with straw mulch. This suggests that under limited irrigation
water, alternate furrow irrigation along with wheat straw mulch minimize evaporation loss;
maximize water productivity and sustain onion production at Amibara and similar agro-ecology
and soil type.
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is the largest freshwater user on the planet, as Onion is one of the most economically important among
of the country the off season crop (under irrigation) the root crops cultivated in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, onion is
constitutes much of the area under onion production produced in many parts of the country by small farmers,
(Nigussie et al., 2015). The national onion yield average is private growers and state enterprise (Lemma and
about 9.28 ton/ha (CSA, 2018). This is far below the Shimelis, 2003). In the many are, which is about 18.8
world’s average consuming more than two thirds of total ton/ha (Hanci, 2018). The decrease in crop yield in semi
withdrawals (Gan et al., 2013). In many parts of the world, arid region was due to increased evapotranspiration (ETo)
irrigation water has been over-exploited and over-used that results from increased temperatures (Kassie et al.,
(Chai et al., 2014), and freshwater shortage is becoming 2015; Muluneh et al., 2015).
critical in the arid and semiarid areas of the world
(Forouzani and Karami, 2011). Rapidly growing Mulching is one management practice which can be used
population, food insecurity, climate change and rainfall to saves water by preventing surface evaporation,
variability (spatial and temporal) have secured irrigated suppressing weeds, regulates soil surface temperatures,
agriculture a prominent position on the country’s improves overall soil quality by increasing organic matter
development agenda. of the soil, stimulating soil life, increasing nutrient
Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia
Nigusie et al. 279
availability and increase crop yield (Diver, et al., 2012 and appropriate furrow irrigation method that enhance yield
Patil Shirish et al., 2013). and water use efficiency of irrigated onion.
Figure 1: Long term maximum and minimum temperature of Werer Agricultural Research Center (WARC) (1987-
2019)
Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia
World Res. J. Agric. Sci. 280
Figure 2: Mean monthly rainfall and evapotranspiration from 1987 to 2019 of the study area.
Rainfall ETo
300.0
RF and evapotranspiration
250.0
200.0
150.0
100.0
50.0
0.0
Month
Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia
Nigusie et al. 281
Where NIR is net irrigation water requirement (mm), ETc Statistical Analysis
is crop water requirement (mm) and Pe is effective rainfall
(mm). The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA)
using SAS version 9.3. Treatment means were compared
The effective rainfall was estimated using dependable rain using the least significant difference (LSD) at 5% level of
(FAO/AGLW formula) method (Allen et al., 1998) as: probability.
(4)
RESULT AND DISCUSION
Where Pe is the effective rainfall (mm) and P is rainfall The overall mean values of bulb yield of onion showed that
(mm/month). statistically there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in
mean bulb yield of onion among different furrow irrigation
Furrow irrigation application efficiencies normally vary water application methods (Table 3). Significantly higher
from 45-60% (Bakker et al., 1999). In this experimental mean marketable bulb yield of (10081.52 kg ha-1) onion
setup, water was applied with precise measurement; was obtained from onion grown under conventional furrow
furrows were short and end-dikes therefore, a higher value irrigation method and the lower (6843.30 kg ha-1) was
of application efficiency (60%) was used and the gross recorded from onion grown under fixed furrow irrigation
irrigation requirement was obtained using the following method. The results of this experiment indicated that
equation: conventional furrow irrigation method gave 32.12%, higher
marketable bulb yield as compared to fixed furrow
(6) irrigation method. The substantial grain yield increase in
the conventional furrow irrigation method might be due to
Where GIR is gross irrigation requirement (mm), NIR is net full application of irrigation water could be attributed to the
irrigation requirement (mm) and Ea is application efficiency increment in vegetative growth, which associated with
(%). increment bulb yield. The result of the current study is in
agreement with the result of Rop et al. (2016) who reported
The gross irrigation amount of water estimated was that yield decreased with increasing water stress
diverted to the furrow using calibrated Parshall flume with significantly. Likewise, Narayanan and Seid (2011)
3 inch dimension. The time required to deliver the desired obtained maximum yield from conventional furrow
depth of water into each furrow was calculated using the irrigation (irrigation water application of 100% crop water
equation below: requirement) than the alternate and fixed furrow irrigation
methods.
(7)
On the other hand, different types of mulch significantly
Where T is application time (min), d is gross depth of water influenced on marketable bulb yield of onion (Table 3).
applied (cm), W is width (m), L is length (m) of the wetted Wheat straw mulch gave a higher mean of marketable bulb
furrows of the experimental plot, and q is flow rate yield (12121.63 kg ha-1), while plastic mulch recorded
(discharge in l/s). lower mean of marketable bulb yield (4289.54 kg ha-1).
Hence, in wheat straw mulch marketable bulb yield was
Water Use Efficiency more by 26.08% over no mulch. Field observations during
the trials indicated that onion under wheat straw mulch was
Irrigation water use efficiency was estimated as a ratio of more stable and actively vegetative growth may have led
grain yield to the total water applied (GIR) through the into bulb formation than plastic and no mulch. Khaledian
growing season and it was calculated using the following et al. (2011) indicated that crop yield could also be
equation (Zwart and Bastiaanssen, 2004). increased because of the improvements in soil physical
properties and fertility under straw mulching. These results
WUE = are also fully supported by Ramalan et al. (2010) who
𝑌𝐿𝐷 reported that marketable onion bulb yield was significantly
(8)
𝐺𝐼𝑅
higher under straw mulch as compared to plastic and no
Where IWUE is Irrigation water use efficiency (kg/m³),
mulch. Likewise Perez et al. (2004) and Samuel et al.
YLD is onion yield (kg/ha) and GIR is the gross irrigation
(2018) reported that the highest yield was obtained from
requirement (m 3/ha).
wheat straw mulch and the lowest from plastic mulch.
Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia
World Res. J. Agric. Sci. 282
Table 3: Main effects of furrow irrigation method and mulch on onion marketable bulb yield.
Treatments Marketable bulb yield (kg ha-1)
Cropping season Combined mean
2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/2019
Irrigation CFI 11056.59 9106.44 10081.52 10081.52a
Methods AFI 8647.67 8245.48 8446.57 8446.57b
FFI 7390.19 6296.41 6843.30 6843.30c
CV (%) 10.4
LSD (0.05) 906.51
Mulch Straw 14669.00 9574.26 12121.63 12121.63a
No mulch 10374.19 7546.26 8960.22 8960.22b
Plastic 2051.26 6527.81 4289.54 4289.54c
CV (%) 15.2
LSD(0.05) 707.37
Year*Method*Mulch NS
NS= Non-significant, CFI= Conventional furrow irrigation, AFI= Alternate furrow irrigation, FFI= Fixed furrow irrigation,
CV= Coefficient of variation; LSD=Least significant difference.
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Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia
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Citation: Nigusie A, Wondimu T, Jemal M, Fikedu R, Kebede N (2020). Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow
Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia.
World Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 8(2): 278-284.
Copyright: © 2020 Nigusie et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are cited.
Integrated Effect of Mulching Materials and Furrow Irrigation Methods on Yield and Water use Efficiency of Onion (Allium cepa l.) at Amibara, Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia