Investigating the Effect of Deficit Irrigation on Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill) Production and Water Productivity: in Case of Mychew SSI Schemes, Tigray, Ethiopia

There are different methods to wisely utilization of the available irrigation water. From these estimation of crop water requirements and its scheduling is very important. Hence, in Mychew SSI scheme yet not estimated the appropriate irrigation depth and its scheduling for tomatoes. Therefore, this research deals with three different irrigation depths (100% CWR, 75% CWR and 50% CWR) compare with farmer practices. The experiment was conducted in Tigray, Ethiopia, with the objective of this experiment were to verify the FAO CROPWAT software to estimate the CWR of tomatoes, to determine the seasonal irrigation depth, and to schedule irrigation time for optimal tomato production as compared to farmers’ irrigation practices. The collected data subjected to two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while irrigation water related performance indicators were computed using equations. Based on the validated software, the estimated CWR using CROPWAT software was 560.8 mm and this can be saved 35.22% irrigation water from the farmer practices. The irrigation intervals were 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, and 7 days for the initial, development, mid-season, and late-season stages, respectively. The irrigation water saving were 35.22% from the farmer practices and this can be irrigated about 0.35 hectares of irrigable land. Therefore, in the study area, which is dominated by sandy loam soil and its agro ecological classification is Kolla; the CWR should not be less than 75% of the estimated CWR to gain the optimum crop production. The 100% CWR and its irrigation scheduling are recommended for enhancement of tomatoes production and irrigation water saving.