Effect Of Deficit Irrigation And Row Spacing On Growth, Yield And Water Productivity Of Tef (Eragrostis Tef) In Central Rift Vally Of Ethiopia

Abstract

Irrigation development in arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia is seriously constrained due to the increasing competition for irrigation water as a result of recurrent drought become common problem. Novel irrigation technologies need to be developed that water saving and water productivity per unit of land can be increased. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine effect of deficit irrigation application and row spacing of tef (Eragrostis tef) production and water use efficiency under water limited situation. Field experiment was carried out at Melkassa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia during growing season of 2018 with border irrigation system and sixteen irrigation treatments replicated three times in a split plot design. The treatments included three levels of deficit irrigation (55% ETc, 70% ETc, 85% ETc) and control (100% ETc) as main plot and four row spacing?��?s are 10, 15, 20 and 25 cm as subplot. The analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences in yield, yield components and CWP (P < 0.01). The highest tef grain yield of 3076.5 Kg/ha was obtained from the control with 25 cm row spacing which was not significantly different for the 85% ETc with 20 cm (P < 0.01). In terms of irrigation and CWP, 55% ETc deficit irrigation application with 25 cm row spacing gave the highest CWP which was highly significant different from all other treatment combinations (P < 0.01). The minimum (0.2) and maximum (0.93) yield response factor was obtained at 85% ETC with 25 cm row spacing and 70 ETC, respectively. This revealed, yield response factor (Ky) for tef was showed that there is yield reduction as crop stressed and row spacing minimize. The study suggests that, in water scarce area, farming community can adopt border irrigation with 85% ETc under 25 cm row spacing without significant