IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES IN CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS Edited by Teang Shui Lee           Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments Edited by Teang Shui Lee Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. 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Publishing Process Manager Dejan Grgur Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published March, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments, Edited by Teang Shui Lee p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0420-9    Contents  Preface IX Part 1 Agricultural Water Productivity in Stressed Environments 1 Chapter 1 Effects of Irrigation on the Flowering and Maturity of Chickpea Genotypes 3 Kamel Ben Mbarek, Boutheina Douh and Abdelhamid Boujelben Chapter 2 Deficit (Limited) Irrigation – A Method for Higher Water Profitability 19 Saeideh Maleki Farahani and Mohammad Reza Chaichi Chapter 3 Water Productivity and Fruit Quality in Deficit Drip Irrigated Citrus Orchards 33 Ana Quiñones, Carolina Polo-Folgado, Ubaldo Chi-Bacab, Belén Martínez-Alcántara and Francisco Legaz Chapter 4 Crop Evapotranspiration and Water Use Efficiency 57 Bergson Guedes Bezerra Chapter 5 Strategies for Improving Water Productivity and Quality of Agricultural Crops in an Era of Climate Change 77 Zorica Jovanovic and Radmila Stikic Chapter 6 A Review on Creating Drought Tolerant Crop Varieties 103 Ramesh Thatikunta Chapter 7 Drought Stress and the Need for Drought Stress Sensing in a World of Global Climate Change 113 Rita Linke Chapter 8 Sustainable Rice Yield in Water-Short Drought-Prone Environments: Conventional and Molecular Approaches 149 B. P. Mallikarjuna Swamy and Arvind Kumar VI Contents Chapter 9 Effects of Salinity on Vegetable Growth and Nutrients Uptake 169 Ivana Maksimovic and Žarko Ilin Part 2 Irrigation Systems and Water Regime Management 191 Chapter 10 Experiments on Alleviating Arsenic Accumulation in Rice Through Irrigation Management 193 Shayeb Shahariar and S. M. Imamul Huq Chapter 11 Effects of Irrigation-Fertilization and Irrigation-Mycorrhization on the Alimentary and Nutraceutical Properties of Tomatoes 207 Luigi Francesco Di Cesare, Carmela Migliori, Valentino Ferrari, Mario Parisi, Gabriele Campanelli, Vincenzo Candido and Domenico Perrone Chapter 12 Experimentation on Cultivation of Rice Irrigated with a Center Pivot System 233 Gene Stevens, Earl Vories, Jim Heiser and Matthew Rhine Chapter 13 Large-Scale Pressurized Irrigation Systems Diagnostic Performance Assessment and Operation Simulation 255 Daniele Zaccaria Chapter 14 Sustainable Irrigation Practices in India 295 Rajapure V. A. and Kothari R. M. Chapter 15 Irrigation in Mediterranean Fruit Tree Orchards 321 Cristos Xiloyannis, Giuseppe Montanaro and Bartolomeo Dichio Chapter 16 Urban Irrigation Challenges and Conservation 343 Kimberly Moore Chapter 17 Irrigation: Types, Sources and Problems in Malaysia 361 M. E. Toriman and M. Mokhtar    Preface  The term irrigation can be described as the practice of the science of application of water to land, or more specifically, to the soil on which plants have been grown for some purpose, usually on based on need, when nature alone cannot supply sufficient water for the healthy development of the plant through its various stages of growth and thus requires the man to devise ways and means to ensure the survival of plants, first and foremost especially for food crops. A more precise way of looking at this science is the art of doing it, because given the problem to a similar predicament, at the same or different location, and more so in different climates and environment, different people would probably solve it differently. It is an art because it takes passion to not just do it right, but more importantly, right from various aspects that have to be considered. Of course, getting it right may bring different connotations to different practitioners, albeit, firstly the successful nurturing of the plants all the way to maturity and a successful harvest is the prime motivation for doing it. To dissect it further, the same objectives could have been met against differing backgrounds of cost, materials and technology and other considerations. Whether the irrigation was performed with efficient use of the water resources, whether the best system was designed appropriately and whether the maintenance of such systems is superior or leaves much to be desired, etc. are some of the questions that the practitioners will have to ponder over. In many instances, the same approach may not be envisaged to be suitable given the circumstances and the conditions of where the irrigation project is. An example is the cultivation of rice. In general, rice is grown in open fields where the land is used for the gravity surface irrigation system mode of conveyance of water and where the efficient use of water is hardly anything to shout about. Thus, given that the mode of cultivation is in leaky basins and conveyances are in most cases through leaky unlined earthen canals, then consideration should be given to account for the fact that seepage and deep percolation would be part and parcel of the water requirements, although strictly speaking “gone down the drain”. This approach is because that is the system that was chosen and by all accounts the “losses” are a foregone conclusion that has to be considered a “use”. Open water field evaporation will have to be taken positively although it is another “loss” strictly because it is a part of the system and is another “use”. Thus the efficiency of the system should include that “useful loss” for it is part and parcel of the chosen system. Rice has to be grown this way because of the X Preface tremendous volumes of water needed for its cultivation, and unless other varieties that consume much less water are chosen and suitable for the lowlands, then that’s the way irrigating of rice crops will stay. Having said that, most of the world’s water, around 75% of the total water resources, goes to agriculture and other than with high-tech systems, “efficiencies” in general are low. Nevertheless, in many parts of the developing world availability of facilities to store water is a luxury that can be ill afford, and water is thus freely runoff. The need to understand and to be able to quantify the parts and components in this total micro plant-soil-water-atmosphere relationship is important if water resources are to be utilized in a downright efficient manner. The soil is taken as temporary water storage for the plants to use anytime. This storage and its water accounting procedure have to be well understood, including the methods and technology of replenishing the soil with water. The transpiration of water of the crops needs to be established and quantifiable and the host of accompanying water movement processes has to be acknowledged. The book “Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments” covers many topics in understanding the regime of the plant-soil-water-atmosphere environment and further elaborating on the finer details of these relationships. It is divided into two sections, Agricultural Water Productivity in Stressed Environments, and Irrigation Systems and Water Regime Management. The publication of these papers expound on the effects of irrigation on the initiation of flowering and the plant maturity process, agricultural product quality, agro-economic water productivity, consumptive use and on practices of sustainable agriculture in relation to water shortage etc, the practice of deficit irrigation. Taking it further, the papers research on the droughts and the all important climate change and its impact on agriculture, culminating with work on creating drought resistant plant varieties. A consequence of droughts could be the increase in salinity of soils and hence the effect of increasing salinity in relation to plant growth needs to be well established for better control. Another pertinent subject matter that should be of interest to all those involved with agricultural production is the management of the agricultural water resources to alleviate the accumulation of toxic materials in plant. New methods of irrigation of crops, especially when and where water can be taxing to supply is being looked into. This of course would also require the checking into the reasons and need for it to be implemented or proposed in the first place, for instance, the irrigation of water to rice plants through an expensive energy hungry center pivot system. Times may have changed; conditions and environment may have taken its toll and also needed to be changed for the acceptance of it now. The economical and environmental considerations need to be assessed to ensure its viability. In conclusion, this text covers a lot of ground and should be of interest to everyone involved with agriculture production and the academics of it.  Dr. Teang Shui Lee Professor of Water Resources Engineering, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia . IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES IN CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS Edited by Teang Shui Lee           Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments Edited. Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments covers many topics in understanding the regime of the plant-soil-water-atmosphere environment and further elaborating on the finer. flowering date (EFlDt, in days after sowing (DAS)): blooming date of the first flowers, Irrigation Systems and Practices in Challenging Environments 6 - 50% flowering date (FlDt, in DAS):