Sugar cane irrigation management under water scarcity
| MSI03P3936 | |
| Ah Koon, P. D. Teeluck, M. | |
| Sugar cane irrigation management under water scarcity | |
| ISSCT Agronomy workshop: Opportunities in sugar cane agronomy to confront the new realities emerging in the 21st century, 21-25 July 2003, MSIRI, Mauritius: Program and Abstracts | |
| book chapter | |
| 2003 | |
| p. 20 | |
| Reduit: ISSCT and Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute | |
| En | |
| En | |
| Water is a scarce resource in the North and West of Mauritius from where some 30 per cent of the total sugar production emanates. In other areas of the sugar industry with adequate water supply, production is sometimes limited due to water shortages during drought periods. Management of irrigation water is therefore of utmost importance and requires an innovative and sustainable approach. This paper elaborates the on-farm and commercial applications of deficit irrigation practices as a strategy to improve overall farm productivity. Management strategies to cope with water shortages, with particular emphasis on the use of alternative water resources such as sugar factory and municipal wastewaters, use of water retention chemicals and improvements in irrigation methods are also presented. Results of deficit irrigation trials have shown that it is possible to stretch the available water to an additional 11 per cent of unirrigated area, thereby increasing overall cane productivity by 2.4 per cent and water-use efficiency by 10 per cent. Irrigation with factory wastewater produced similar cane yield increases as with 'normal' water, but its quality has to be closely monitored to avoid adverse effects on soil physical properties and the sprinkler systems. Furthermore, adoption of improved irrigation systems like the centre pivot has been shown to improve overall commercial yield by about 14 per cent. The results emphasize the need to adopt emerging technologies for water management such as an integrated approach to irrigation management via the creation of an irrigation management information system to optimise cane productivity with available irrigation systems, labour and water resources. | |
| Deficit irrigation irrigation management information system wastewater water savings yield optimization | |
| Mauritius | |
| Sugarcane: Water use and management | |
| Irrigation: Deficit irrigation | |
| 2003-07-31 | |
| En | |
| MSIRI | |
| LIB | |
| IRRIG |