Although much of global agriculture is rain-fed, production is frequently (and sometimes catastrophically) constrained by rainfall. Supplementary irrigation can stabilize yield from year-to-year and conventionally has aimed to meet full crop evapotranspiration (ET), since the relationship between ET and crop yield is near-linear at suboptimal water supply (Fereres and Soriano, 2007). Changes in...

Delineating the depth and extent of the watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thumb.) Matsum. & Nak.] root zone assists with proper irrigation management and minimizes nutrient leaching. The objective of this 3-year field study was to measure root distribution and root length density of watermelon (cv. Wrigley) grafted on two different rootstocks (Lagenaria siceraria cv. ‘FR Strong’ and Cucurbita mosc...

Irrigation scheduling requires an operational means to quantify plant water stress. Remote sensing may offer quick measurements with regional coverage that cannot be achieved by current ground-based sampling techniques. This study explored the relation between variability in fine-resolution measurements of canopy temperature and crop water stress in cotton fields in Central Arizona, USA. Using ...

Partial root drying (PRD) is a new irrigation and plants growing technique which improves water use efficiency without significant yield reduction. In the present paper some of the recent data concerning PRD effects on crop plants are presented as well as some of our own results of PRD grown tomato plants. Tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were grown in commercial compost with the r...

In a field experiment the effects of irrigation with saline drainage water (seasonal average of 4.5 dS/m) and non-saline water (0.55 dS/m) applied by two different water management strategies (cyclic or blended saline water with non-saline water in different ratios) and two different irrigation methods (drip or furrow) were studied on growth and productivity of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum M...