Quality of Irrigation Water

&
Irrigation Scheduling
Dr. V. B. Shinde
 Introduction
• All irrigation waters are not pure and may contain some soluble
salts. In arid and semi-arid regions successful crop production
without supplemental irrigation is not possible. Irrigation water
is usually drawn from surface or ground water sources, which
typically contain salts in the range of 200 to 2000 ppm (= 200
to 2000 g/m3). Irrigation water contains 10-100 times more
salt than rain water.
Salinity build-up process in irrigated soils
 Criteria to determine the quality of irrigation water
• The criteria for judging the quality of irrigation water are: Total
salt concentration as measured by electrical conductivity,
relative proportion of sodium to other cations as expressed by
sodium adsorption ratio, bicarbonate content, boron
concentration and soluble sodium percentage.
1. Total soluble salts:
• Salinity of water refers to concentration of total soluble salts in
it. It is the most important single criterion of irrigation water
quality. The harmful effects increase with increase in total salt
concentration. The concentration of soluble salts in water is
indirectly measured by its electrical conductivity (ECw). The
quality of saline waters has been divided into five classes as
per USDA classification.
• Adverse effects of saline water include salt accumulation,
increase in osmotic potential, decreased water availability to
plants, poor germination, patchy crop stand, stunted growth with
smaller, thicker and dark green leaves, leaf necrosis & leaf drop,
root death, wilting of plants, nutrient deficiency symptoms and
poor crop yields.
 Salinity classes of irrigation water
Salinity class Electrical conductivity
Micro mhos/cm Milli mhos/cm
C1 – Low < 250 < 0.25
C2 – Medium 250 – 750 0.25 – 0.75
C3 – Medium to high 750 – 2250 0.75 – 2.25
C4 – High 2250 – 5000 2.25 – 5.00

C5 – Very high > 5000 > 5.00

2. Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR):
SAR of water indicates the relative proportion of sodium to other
cations. It indicates sodium or alkali hazard.
The ion concentration is expressed as meq per litre. Increase in
SAR of water increases the exchangeable sodium percentage
(ESP) of soil. There is a linear relationship between SAR and
ESP of the soil.
 Sodicity classes of water
Sodium class SAR value
S1 – Low < 10
S2 – Moderate 10 – 18
S3 – High 18 – 26
S4 – Very high > 26
Harmful effects of sodic water include destruction of soil structure,
crust formation, poor seedling emergence, reduction in
availability of N, Zn and Fe due to increased soil pH, Na toxicity
and toxicity of B & Mo due to their excessive solubility.
3. Boron content: Though boron is an essential micronutrient for plant
growth, its presence in excess in irrigation water affects metabolic
activities of the plant. For normal crop growth the safe limits of
boron content.

Permissible limits of boron content in irrigation for crops

Boron (ppm) Quality rating
<3 Normal
3–4 Low
4–5 Medium
5 – 10 High
More than 10 Very high
 Management practices for using poor quality water
a) Application of gypsum: Chemical amendments such as
gypsum, when added to water will increase the calcium
concentration in the water, thus reducing the sodium to calcium
ratio and the SAR, thus improving the infiltration rate. Gypsum
requirement is calculated based on relative concentration of Na,
Mg & Ca ions in irrigation water and the solubility of gypsum.
To add 1 meq /L of calcium, 860 kg of gypsum of 100% purity
per ha m of water is necessary.
b) Alternate irrigation strategy: Some crops are susceptible to salinity
at germination & establishment stage, but tolerant at later stage. If
susceptible stages are ensured with good quality water, subsequent
tolerant stages can be irrigated with poor quality saline water.
c) Fertilizer application: Fertilizers, manures, and soil amendments
include many soluble salts in high concentrations. If placed too close to
the germinating seedling or to the growing plant, the fertilizer may
cause or aggravate a salinity or toxicity problem. Care, therefore,
should be taken in placement as well as timing of fertilization.
Application of fertilizers in small doses and frequently improve uptake
and reduce damage to the crop plants. In addition, the lower the salt
index of fertilizer, the less danger there is of salt burn and
damage to seedlings or young plants.
d) Methods of irrigation: The method of irrigation directly
affects both the efficiency of water use and the way salts
accumulate. Poor quality irrigation water is not suitable for use
in sprinkler method of irrigation. Crops sprinkled with waters
having excess quantities of specific ions such as Na and Cl
cause leaf burn. High frequency irrigation in small amounts as in
drip irrigation improves water availability and uptake due to
micro-leaching effect in the wetted zone.
e) Crop tolerance: The crops differ in their tolerance to poor
quality waters. Growing tolerant crops when poor quality
water is used for irrigation helps to obtain reasonable crops
yields. Relative salt tolerance of crops.
f) Method of sowing: Salinity reduces or slows germination and
it is often difficult to obtain a satisfactory stand. Suitable
planting practices, bed shapes, and irrigation management can
greatly enhance salt control during the critical germination
period. Seeds have to be placed in the area where salt
concentration is less. Salt accumulation is less on the slope of
the ridge and bottom of the ridge. Therefore, placing the seed
on the slope of the ridge, several cm below the crown, is
recommended for successful crop establishment.
Tolerant Fruit crops: Date palm, Pomegranate, Guava
Vegetables: Sugar Beet, Turnip, Spinach
Plantation Crop: Coconut
Semi tolerant Fruit crops: Grape & Mango
Vegetables: Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower,
Cucumber, Carrot, Potato

Sensitive Fruit crops: Apple, Orange, Almond, Strawberry,

Lemon
Vegetables: Radish, Peas, Okra
g) Drainage: Provide adequate internal drainage. Meet the
necessary leaching requirement depending on crop and EC of
water. This is necessary to avoid build of salt in the soil solution
to levels that will limit crop yields. Leaching requirement can
be calculated from water test results and tolerance levels of
specific crops.
h) Other management practices:
1. Over aged seedlings in rice: Transplanting of rice with over aged seedlings
at a closer spacing results in better establishment in salt effected soils than
normal aged seedlings. In case of other crops like finger millet, pearl millet
etc. better method than direct sowing of these crops for proper establishment.
2. Mulching: Mulching with locally available plant material help in
reducing salt problems by reducing evaporation and by increasing infiltration.
3. Soil management: All soil management practices that improve
infiltration rate and maintain favorable soil structure reduces salinity hazard.
4. Crop rotation: Inclusion of crops such as rice in the rotation reduces salinity.
 SCHEDULING OF IRRIGATION
 Water management is the planned use of water for better utilization in agriculture.
It includes irrigation (the application of water to soil or crop or crop plants to assist
crop production) and drainage (removal of excess surface or ground water from land)
by means of surface or sub- surface drains.

 The soil needs the application of water to remove stress conditions, release
nutrients in the soil solution for absorption by plants, leach or wash out injurious
salts from the soil, prepare land for raising crops and maintain the temperature and
humidity of the soil, maintain micro – climate and the activity of soil microbes at the
optimum level.

 On the other hand excess water needs removal for the normal aeration and
functioning of roots and shoots of the plants except of aquatic or semi aquatic crops.
Advantages of Irrigation Scheduling
a) It enables the farmer to schedule water rotation among the various
fields to minimize crop water stress and maximize yields.
b) It reduces the farmer’s cost of water and labour
c) It lowers fertilizer costs by holding surface runoff
d) It increases net returns by increasing crop yields and crop quality.
e) It minimizes water-logging problems
f) It assists in controlling root zone salinity problems
g) It results in additional returns by using the “saved” water to irrigate
non-cash crops
Soil water regime approach
• In this approach the available soil water held between field capacity
and permanent wilting point in the effective crop root zone
• Alternatively soil moisture tension, the force with which the water is
held around the soil particles is also sometimes used as a
guide for timing irrigations.
Feel and appearance of soil
• This is one of the oldest and simple methods of
determining the soil moisture content.
• It is done by visual observation and feel of the soil by hand.
• The accuracy of judgement improves with experience.
Soil moisture tension
• Soil moisture tension a physical property of film water in soil, as
monitored by tensiometers at a specified depth in the crop root zone
could also be used as an index for scheduling irrigations to field crops.
• Tensiometers are installed in pairs, one in the maximum rooting depth
and the other below this zone.
• Whenever critical soil moisture tension is reached the irrigation is
commenced.
• While the lower one (tensiometer) is used to terminate the irrigations
based on the suction readings in the below soil profile zone.
• It is generally used for irrigating orchards and vegetables in coarse
textured soils because most of the available soil moisture is held at lower
tensions.
Indicator plants
• In wheat, scheduling irrigations on the basis of wilting symptoms
in maize and sunflower gave the highest grain yields.
Critical growth stages
• The crop plants in their life cycle pass through various phases of
growth, some of which are critical for water supply.
• The most critical stage of crop growth is the one at which a high
degree of water stress would cause maximum loss in yield.
 At each irrigation a volume of water sufficient to supply the
seeds of the crop for a period varying from a few days to several weeks
is stored in the unsaturated soil in the form of available soil water.

Irrigation practices, comprise of three

interlinked components:
•The quantity of water at each irrigation ( normally 5-10 cm)

•The interval between to irrigations (normally 10-20 days)

•Total number of irrigations in the life span of a crop (1 to 50 or more)