Effects of Frequency of Irrigation on Dry-Season Furrow-Irrigated Maize and Peanut Production in the Rice-Growing Lowlands of the Lower Mekong Basin

Carlos Ballester, Camilla Vote, John Hornbuckle, Thavone Inthavong, Vanndy Lim, Chantha Oeurng, Wendy Quayle, Vang Seng, Pheng Sengxua, Vorachith Sihathep, Veasna Touch and Philip Eberbach
Additional contact information
Carlos Ballester: Centre for Regional and Rural Futures (CeRRF), Deakin University, Research Station Road, Griffith, NSW 2680, Australia
Camilla Vote: Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University, Pugsley Ave, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia
John Hornbuckle: Centre for Regional and Rural Futures (CeRRF), Deakin University, Research Station Road, Griffith, NSW 2680, Australia
Thavone Inthavong: Research Centre for Climate Change Resilience in Agriculture, National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Nongviengkham Village, Xaythany District, Vientiane 0106, Laos
Vanndy Lim: Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), National Road No 3, Sangkat Prateah Lang, Khan Dangkoar, Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia
Chantha Oeurng: Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), Russian Conf. Blvd., Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia
Wendy Quayle: Centre for Regional and Rural Futures (CeRRF), Deakin University, Research Station Road, Griffith, NSW 2680, Australia
Vang Seng: Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), National Road No 3, Sangkat Prateah Lang, Khan Dangkoar, Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia
Pheng Sengxua: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Agricultural Land Use Planning Centre, Department of Agricultural Land Management, Vientiane 0101, Laos
Vorachith Sihathep: Phone Ngam Rice Research and Seed Multiplication Centre, Pakse 1600, Laos
Veasna Touch: Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), National Road No 3, Sangkat Prateah Lang, Khan Dangkoar, Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia
Philip Eberbach: Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University, Pugsley Ave, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia

Agriculture, 2019, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Incorporation of dry-season crops in the lowland production systems of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) may provide local smallholder farmers the opportunity to increase household cash income through diversification. However, water availability and lowland rice-growing soil characteristics often limit the yield potential of dry-season crops in rotation with wet-season rice. This work studied the effects of three frequencies of irrigation on the crop performance of dry-season furrow-irrigated maize ( Zea mays Linnaeus) and peanut ( Arachis hypogaea Linnaeus) grown on lowland rice-growing soils in terms of biomass, yield and water productivity (WP). In addition, the response of maize to two fertiliser rates was evaluated. The study was carried out in sites with typical lowland rice-growing soils located in Cambodia and Laos. Soil matric potential (Ψ m ) was monitored during the season at the centre of the beds and percentage of canopy cover, aboveground biomass (AGB), yield and WP were determined. The results showed that within the first weeks of furrow irrigation (~two weeks after emergence), Ψ m dropped considerably (<−200 kPa) after all treatments at both sites, suggesting that water movement from the furrows to the centre of the beds was limited. Shorter frequency of irrigation led to significantly ( p < 0.05) higher AGB and yield in maize but not in peanut. Fertiliser rates did not have a significant effect on maize. WP ranged from 0.84 kg m −3 to 1.42 kg m −3 for maize and from 0.27 kg m −3 to 0.49 kg m −3 for peanut with no significant differences among treatments. This work provides evidence of a lateral water movement limitation that is not well documented for the establishment of furrow-irrigated dry-season crop production in the lowlands of the LMB. Further research on methodologies that could help to overcome this limitation in these soils, such as the application of soil amendments or implementation of alternative irrigation systems, would be of great value.

Keywords: soil water distribution; soil matric potential; non-rice dry-season cropping; water productivity; irrigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/6/128/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/6/128/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:6:p:128-:d:240864

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().