Effect of Micro Irrigation on Growth and Yield of Tomato under Clay Loam Soil

A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of drip emitters and micro sprinklers on tomato crop in field conditions. The drip and micro sprinkler are two types of micro irrigation techniques, which can be used to improve irrigation efficiency for vegetables by reducing field losses. The analysis of the data of moisture content was done before and after irrigation and soil moisture contour maps for longitudinal cross section of the soil moisture were plotted by using software ‘Surfer’. The uniformity coefficient was 89.25 per cent at 1.2 kg/cm2 for drip system. In micro sprinkler system the uniformity coefficient was 89.80 per cent and 88.50 per cent for micro sprinkler at 25 cm and 50 cm height from the ground. The coefficient of manufacturing variation was low (0.048) in drip irrigation system at 1.20 kg/cm2. In crop response studies, the growth parameters and yield of tomato crop significantly increased under micro sprinkler irrigation compared to drip and control treatment. The maximum yield (54,300 kg/ha) was recorded in micro sprinkler treatment compared to drip (53,600 kg/ha) and control (40,000 kg/ha) treatment. The highest water use efficiency (245 kg/ha/mm) was recorded for drip irrigation compared to micro sprinkler and conventional treatment. The least quantity of water applied including effective rainfall was 350 mm for drip treatment. An increase in the benefit cost (B:C) ratio was observed for micro sprinkler treatment (3.56) compared to drip (3.37) and control (3.07) treatment. Micro sprinkler treatment performed better in terms of yield and less cost compared to drip plots. But water use efficiency was higher in drip treatment.