Asian Journal of Research and Review in Agriculture

This research addresses the growing challenge of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions, where efficient water use is essential for sustainable agricultural production. With limited water resources available for irrigation, optimizing water use efficiency (WUE) is critical to ensuring adequate crop yields, especially for high-value crops like tomato. To cope with scarce water supplies, applying irrigation water below full crop-water requirements is an important tool to achieve the goal of reducing irrigation water use and increase water use efficiency (WUE). By evaluating three different furrow irrigation systems Alternate Furrow Irrigation (AFI), Fixed Furrow Irrigation (FFI), and Conventional Furrow Irrigation (CFI) the study aims to identify the most effective irrigation method for maximizing tomato yield and water use efficiency. The findings of this research are significant for improving irrigation practices and supporting water conservation in regions facing water scarcity. The objective of this research was to evaluate the three furrow irrigation systems on fresh tomato yield and water use efficiency and identify the furrow irrigation method which allows achieving optimum tomato yield. The experiment was arranged in randomized complete block design with three treatments and six replications. The irrigation treatments were Alternate Furrow Irrigation (AFI), Fixed Furrow Irrigation (FFI) and Conventional Furrow Irrigation (CFI) method. The analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences in yield and water use efficiency (P < 0.05). The result showed that conventional furrow irrigation method gave maximum fruit yield (32 ton/ha) and alternative furrow irrigation method showed highest water use efficiency (8.82 kg/m³), and has high marginal return rate. Therefore, to maximize tomato yield in areas with adequate water supply, it is recommended to apply water through a conventional furrow irrigation system during the growing season. In areas with limited water resources, alternative furrow irrigation systems are found to be the most cost-effective and efficient way to use water.