Precision Irrigation Strategies for Sustainable Water Budgeting of Potato Crop in Prince Edward Island

Abstract

Climate change induced uneven patterns of rainfall emphasize the use of supplemental irrigation in rainfed agriculture. The Penman–Monteith method was used to calculate supplemental irrigation for water budgeting of a potato crop in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Cumulative gaps between rainfall and crop evapotranspiration (ETc) during August and September of the study years were due to high crop coefficient factor, justifying the need for supplemental irrigation. Pressurized irrigation systems, including sprinklers, fertigation, and drip irrigation were installed, to evaluate the impact of scheduled supplemental irrigation in offsetting deficits in irrigation water requirements in comparison with conventional practice of rainfed cultivation (control). A two-way ANOVA examined the effect of irrigation methods and year on potato tuber yield, water productivity, tuber quality, and payout. Sprinkler and fertigation systems performed better than drip and control treatments. In terms of payout returns and potato tuber quality (percentage of marketable potatoes), the sprinkler treatment performed significantly better than the other treatments. However, for water productivity, fertigation treatment performed significantly better than control and sprinkler treatments during both years. The use of supplemental irrigation is recommended for profitable cultivation of potatoes in soil, agricultural, and environmental conditions resembling to those of Prince Edward Island.