Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

Sugarcane is a long duration crop and matures for harvesting in 10 to 12 months in Punjab, has high water requirement than other crops due to long tillering phase during summer months when there is higher evaporative demand. The declining ground water table in the state may pose serious risk to sugar production in the future. Thus, the present investigation was carried out to access the impact of irrigation based on environmental evaporation demand in the region. Four irrigation levels i.e. 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 IW/CPE in addition to rainfed were evaluated for their impact on growth, yield, quality and water productivity. The experiment was laid out in randomised complete block design with three replications at PAU Regional Research Station, Gurdaspur, Punjab, India during the year 2019-20 and 2020-21. The results revealed significant response of cane length, cane girth, cane yield, number of millable cane and juice quality to the different irrigation levels. The highest cane yield was achieved at irrigation @1.2 IW/CPE, that was statistically at par with irrigation levels of 0.8 and 1.0 IW/CPE. The data revealed water saving of 28.6 % and 10.2 % in irrigation level of 0.8 IW/CPE compared to irrigation at 1.2 and 1.0 IW/CPE, respectively. The irrigation @0.8 IW/CPE not only saves water but also produces statistically similar yields, may be recommended under water limiting conditions.