Agricultural Reviews

Water and fertilizer arethe two important inputs for agricultural production and are interrelated in their effect on plant growth and yield. Since, water and fertilizer are costly inputs, every effort must be made to enhance water and fertilizer use efficiency by reducing their wastage. In recent years fertigation – a technique of application of both water and fertilizers via an irrigation system was shown to be very effective in achieving higher water and fertilizer use efficiency. In this method both water and fertilizer are delivered precisely in the crop root zone as per the crop needs and according to crop developmental phase. Increased growth and yield with drip irrigation has been reported in several crops and the increase in yield ranged between 7–112% depending on the crops/varieties and method of irrigation compared. The water and fertilizer saving through drip fertigation have been reported to be 40–70 and 30–50 per cent respectively.