TY  - BOOK
AU  - Chandupatla Sunilkumar
AU  - Jaikumaran U (Guide)
TI  - Mulch-cum Drip Irrigation System For Okra
U1  - 630 
PY  - 1998///
CY  - Vellanikkara
PB  - Department of Agronomy, College of Horticulture 
N2  - An experiment was conducted in the summer rice fallows of 
the Agricultural Research Station, Mannuthy during 1997 to develop 
and test mulch-cum-drip irrigation system for okra (Abelmoschus 
esculentus Moench.) and compare this system with drip without mulch or 
furrow irrigation system either with or without mulch. The soil was sandy 
clay loam, medium in organic carbon and available potassium and high in 
available phosphorus. The ten treatments comprised of combinations of 
two irrigation systems (Drip irrigation and furrow irrigation) and three 
irrigation frequencies (soil moisture tension at 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08 MPa) 
either with or without mulch. The experiment was laid out in randomised 
block design with three replications. In case of drip irrigation system 41ph 
emitters were placed 60 cm apart such that there was one emitter in 
between two plants. In mulched plots, after the formation of ridges, the 
field was covered with black LDPE sheet before sowing. Holes were 
made on this sheet at a spacing of 30 cm and seeds were dibbled 
through these holes. 
The study proved the beneficial effects of mulching in the vegetable 
crop bhindi, irrespective of the levels and methods of irrigations. Biometric 
characters like plant height, number of leaves and leaf area index and the 
yield attributing characters like number of flowers, number of fruits and total 
weight of fruits plant' were favourably influenced by mulching both under 
furrow and drip systems of irrigations, irrespective of levels of irrigation. 
 
The maximum fruit yield of 24.88 t ha-1 was produced when the crop was 
mulched and furrow irrigated at soil moisture tension of 0.08 MPa. This 
accounted for 93.48 per cent Increase in yield over the control crop that 
received irrigation by furrow method at 0.06 MPa without mulch. 
The crop under mulched situation consumed lesser amount of water 
compared to without mulch situations at all the frequencies of irrigations. 
This decline of consumptive use of water, was to the tune of 49, 97 and 
192 percent respectively at the soil moisture tension of 0.04, 0.06 and 
0.08 MPa in case of drip irrigation and 49, 97 and 135 per cent in case of 
furrow irrigation. Under drip irrigation the total soil moisture extracted from 
0-15 and 15-30 cm layers was 30.68 to 49.56 and 50.43 to 69.31 per cent 
respectively in open situation. The respective values under mulched 
situation were 39.16 to 45.1 and 54.89 to 60.83 per cent. In case of 
furrow irrigation system the respective values were 35.58 to 47.39 and 
52.60 to 64.41 under mulched situation and 41.01 and 58.98 per cent in 
unmulched situation. 
When mulching was adopted under drip irrigation or surface method 
of irrigation with the irrigation schedules at the soil moisture tensions of 
0.04, 0.06 or 0.08 MPa, the cropping became profitable. Then, the B.C. 
ratios varied between 0.91 to 1.58. Maximum benefit cost ratio of 1.58 
was derived when the crop was mulched and furrow irrigated at soil 
moisture tension of 0.08 MPa.

UR  - https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810100556
UR  - https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/displaybitstream?handle=1/5810100556&fileid=eb8244bf-54d6-430a-b7bd-2c745fb78ce5
ER  -