Effect of management practices on water use efficiency of Gezira irrigated scheme – Sudan

Abstract

This study was conducted at Gezira scheme - Sudan during the period from 2009 to 2010 in a heavy clay soil to investigate the effect of management practices on water use efficiency for the different crops irrigated in Gezira scheme. The data was collected from the scheme Administration. The study was organized by using T-Test. Cropwat4 Windows was used to calculate crop water requirements (CWR) and the net irrigation requirements (NIR). The results showed that, Water use efficiency significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by the different management practices. Sorghum gave the highest mean value (0.48) of economic water use efficiency as compared to cotton which ranked the least (0.19). Technical water use efficiency for Sorghum and groundnut recorded the highest means values (0.34 and 0.30 kg/m3) while cotton gave the lowest (0.07 kg/m3). Wheat gave the highest mean values (0.87) of Hydraulic water use efficiency as compared to sorghum which ranked the least (0.59). It can be concluded that, proper technical guidelines for irrigation network management, operation and scheduling should be developed and followed.