The Effect of Flow Rate and Furrow Length on Irrigation Efficiencies

Traditional small scale irrigation system dominates in Amhara region, Yilmana Densa district, and furrow irrigation being widely used to apply water to crop lands. Typically, the design and management of irrigation systems in the region is very poor for many reasons such as irrigators control over the inflow rate is minimal, no land grading operation, most of the time furrow length is too short due to fragmented land holdings; no predetermined application time, all these led to excessive water losses due to deep percolation and surface runoff. Furrow irrigation is used to irrigate multiple crops in the study area. Excessive water loss due to poor water management is a major problem. The study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the effect of furrow length and flow rate on irrigation efficiencies, yield and water use efficiency of potato crop in relatively short furrows (50 m) using field experiment and computer simulation studies.