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Article: Efficient on-farm irrigation. (putting right amount of water to soil)
- Article from:
- Resource: Engineering & Technology for a Sustainable World
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 American Society of Agricultural Engineers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Adding the right amount of water to sustain soil productivity
In arid and semi-arid regions of the world, where crops often thirst for rain, agriculture relies on irrigation to fulfill water requirements.
Yet applying too much or too little irrigation water can increase soil and water salinization and reduce crop yield.
Irrigation infiltration that exceeds the soil's natural drainage capacity can cause a shallow groundwater table to rise. This can have adverse effects on crops due to increasing salinity and water logging in the root zone. Deficient irrigation also can increase soil salinity concentration caused by crop evapotranspiration and ...