Abstract

A study was taken up to evaluate the performance of cost-free surge irrigation including two amendments viz., Raw Coconut Fibre Waste (RCFW) and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) @ 12.5 t ha1, in Sunflower (Co.2). The flow rate was 1 Ips with an 'ON-OFF' time of 10 minutes. The total distance was 100 m. The spacing was 60/2 30x30 cm under double row planting. The cost-free surge irrigation involved inlet pipes of 52 cm length and 6.0 cm diameter from head channel to the furrows and manually operated. The over all trend was that higher number of surges to start with, decreasing in between and increasing at the end. There was a water economy (44.3-44.7 per cent) and labour economy (48.1- 51.5 per cent) due to surge irrigation. Next ranking in labour economy was surge irrigation with RCFW. Labour saving was relatively lesser in continuous irrigation. Water use efficiency was higher for surge irrigation as compared to continuous irrigation except sector three (51-75 M) due to 'penultimate depression. Also continuous irrigation suffered from penultimate depression.

Keywords: Cost-free Surge Irrigation, Double row planting, Sunflower