Comparative Study of Different Irrigation System for Cotton Crop in District Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan

The biggest responsibility of agriculture department is to produce food and cloth for huge population using the resource getting limited day by day. Water scarcity is most threatening among these limiting factors. New techniques are being developed day by day to utilize the water efficiently. Application of water only in the plant root zone will be one of the water saving technique to grow crops. This will control the losses due to evaporation and leaching. Irrigation to soil does not control the climate variables and precipitation cannot be substituted to irrigation. Sprinkler irrigation could be one of the way to utilize the water efficiently by in time application and reducing the losses of leaching and evaporation along with amelioration of micro climate of the crop. Canals and tube well water is conventionally given to crop through flood irrigation. These fields are in direct threat of evaporation and leaching resulting in excess water losses and damaging the soil quality. The study was designed taking cotton as experimental crop to calculate comparisons in plant growth parameters and yields along with water saving ability of different irrigation system. Maximum yield was obtained from sprinkler irrigation and water was saved under drip irrigation system.