Abstract:
The research was carried out on evaluation of on-farm water productivity in tomato production using surface and overhead Irrigation techniques at Kabos Horticulture and Irrigation site in
Serere Eastern Uganda. The aim of this study was to Evaluate On-Farm Water Productivity of Tomato Crop under Furrow, Basin and Hosepipe Irrigation Techniques. Soil samples from the study area revealed two predominant soil textural classes, i.e. Clay loam and clay with field capacity ranging from 30% to 40% and low average permanent. wilting point. Crop and soil data were fed into CROP WAT model to determine the crop water requirement. Irrigation scheduling revealed a relationship that Irrigation water need is inversely proportional to precipitation received. It was also clearly observed that Irrigation water decreases towards the growing season attributed to low water demand by crops due to maturity. Plant growth was monitored at 20DAT, 40DAT and 70DAT (DAT days transplanting). Plants under treatment and 2 (flat fields) had better mean growth height compared to others due to easy drainage and good soil aeration. Statistical data analysis was completed by Excel and GENSTAT for a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Here, Marketable yield reduces with poor water management practices seen at treatment 6 and 5 where surface ponding instigated root damage and fruit Basin High had the least Marketable water productivity of 1.2291 Kg/m whereas Water productivity was highest (2.07 Kg/m.3) in Furrow Irrigation Treatments. Analysis of variance on water productivity revealed that Fcal < Ftab at a=0.05 and 0.01, an indication that the experiment failed to reject the null hypothesis that "Irrigation method does not improve on farm water productivity of tomato Clop". This research supports the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 ensuring water availability, sustainability in management and sanitation for all. The findings in this research can help alleviate the pressure being imposed on global water for agriculture, animal and industrial uses.
Key Words: Irrigation, Crop water requirement, CROPWAT, Marketable yield, Water productivity.
