Assessing impacts of surge-flow irrigation on water saving and productivity of cotton

To improve water saving and conservation in irrigated agriculture, a range of field evaluation experiments was carried out with various furrow irrigation treatments in cotton fields to estimate the possibilities of improving furrow irrigation performances under conditions of Central Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan. The research consisted in comparing surge and continuous-flow in long furrows and adopting alternate-furrow irrigation. The best results were achieved with surge-flow irrigation applied to alternate furrows. Field data allowed the calibration of a surface irrigation model that was used to identify alternative management issues. Results identified the need to better adjust inflow rates to soil infiltration conditions, cut-off times to the soil water deficits and improving irrigation scheduling. The best irrigation water productivity (0.61 kg m−3) was achieved with surge-flow on alternate furrows, which reduced irrigation water use by 44% (390 mm) and led to high application efficiency, near 85%. Results demonstrated the possibility for applying deficit irrigation in this region.