Design and performance of subirrigation system in maize (Zea mays) in Kumulur farm, Trichy district, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Subirrigation system can furnish water to plants. The upward flux and the discharge rate must satisfy the plant’s lifesaving irrigation needs during summer. The experiment was laid out in  A-block of Eastern farm, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur, Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Subirrigation system spacing was arrived using Moody's equation calculated as 10 m. The experiment was laid out in spilt plot design with three replications. Four drain spacing levels (7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 m) were the main plot treatments and two levels of depth and diameter of drain pipes (75 cm, 60 cm & 75 mm, 63 mm) were the sub plot treatments. The highest volumetric water content was recorded in 7.5 m spacing + 45 cm soil depth + lower reach (S₁T₃T₁). Capillary rise on water table management system under subirrigation mode was fixed as 33.5 cm and the average deep percolation loss was obtained in 0.3 cm/d at development stage of crop period. The highest maize yield (4.30 t/ha) was obtained in 7.5 m spacing + 60 cm drain depth + 75 mm diameter (S₁D₃). The highest water use efficiency of (0.86 kg/m³) was recorded in 7.5 m spacing + 60 cm drain depth + 75 mm drain diameter (S₁D₃). This subirrigation system could furnish water to plants due to upward flux and the same system also functioned efficiently under drainage modes and removed the waterlogging during wet periods.