Onion Response to Drip Irrigation Intensity and Emitter Flow Rate

Abstract

Although an irrigation onset criterion for drip-irrigated onion (Allium cepa) has been determined, the optimal irrigation intensity has not been examined. Some authors have argued that very high irrigation frequencies with low amounts of water are needed to maximize crop responses. Long-day, sweet Spanish onions were grown on 44-inch beds with two double rows spaced 1.8 ft apart and a drip tape buried 4 inches deep in the bed center. Onions were submitted to eight treatments as a combination of four irrigation intensities (1/16, 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 inch of water per irrigation) and two drip tape emitter flow rates (0.5 and 0.25 L·h–1) on silt loam in 2002 and 2003. The 1/16-, 1/8-, 1/4-, and 1/2-inch irrigation intensities had irrigations scheduled up to eight times, four times, twice, or once per day, respectively, to replenish soil water potential to –20 cbar as needed. Each plot was independently and automatically irrigated if the soil water potential at 8-inch depth was equal to or lower than –20 cbar. This resulted in an average of 564, 269, 121, and 60 irrigations over 107 days for the 1/16-, 1/8-, 1/4-, and 1/2-inch irrigation intensities, respectively. Onions were harvested, stored, and evaluated for yield and grade after 75 days of storage. Averaged over irrigation intensities, the drip tape with 0.5 L·h–1 emitters had significantly higher total yield, marketable yield, and colossal onion yield than the tape with 0.25 L·h–1 emitters. Averaged over emitter type, the 1/2-inch irrigation intensity had higher total and marketable onion yields than the 1/16- and 1/8-inch intensities. Averaged over emitter type, the 1/2-inch irrigation intensity resulted in the highest super colossal and colossal onion yield. Onions grown with an irrigation intensity of 1/2 inch and drip tape with emitter flow rate of 0.5 L·h–1 produced total yields of 50.0 ton/acre, marketable yields of 48.8 ton/acre, super colossal yield of 1.05 ton/acre, and colossal yield of 13.9 ton/acre. Interactions between irrigation intensities and emitter flow rates were nonsignificant for the number of irrigations, water applied, average soil water potential, or onion yield and grade. There was no significant difference in average soil water potential between treatments. There was no significant difference in total water applied plus precipitation between treatments, with, on average, 32.3 and 31.1 inches applied in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Onion evapotranspiration from emergence to onion lifting totaled 34.6 and 37.3 inches in 2002 and 2003, respectively.