Two field experiments were conducted at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agric. Res. Station during the two successive seasons 2006/2007 and 2007/2008. The aim of this work is to study the influence of irrigation intervals (traditional, irrigation at 60 %depletion of available soil moisture and irrigation at 100 and 80 % of cumulative pan evaporation) and applied irrigation water at flow rates (30 and 60 L/sec) on productivity of flax and some irrigation efficiencies. The design of the experiments were split-plot design. The obtained results could be summarized as follows:
Seed yield and other plant parameters such as plant height, , capsules number per plant and protein content had significantly affected with various irrigation treatments. Irrigation at 100%, 80% from cumulative pan evaporation and 50%depletion of available soil moisture were superior to traditional treatment, respectively. Irrigation at 100 % pan evaporation recorded the highest values of flax seed yield (540.8 and 539.4 kg/fed.), straw yield(3.545and3.767ton/fed.),plant height(114.9 and 116.2cm), technical length (101.8 and 100.5cm)and capsules number per plant(13.93and14.89)in the first and second seasons, respectively
Irrigation of flax plants at 60 % depletion of available soil moisture resulted in the highest oil content (41.98 and 40.4 %) in the first and second seasons, respectively.
Irrigation at high flow rate( 60 L/sec) increased values of plant height, technical length, number of capsules per plant, seed yield, straw yield, oil and protein contents compared to low flow rate (30L/ Sec.)in the two growing seasons.
● The interaction between irrigation intervals and flow rate (I x F) had significant effects on the technical length in the 1st season, while in the2nd season, the interaction had a significant effect on all parameters except seeds yield and protein content.
- The lowest values of water applied (1914.83 and 1967.6m3 /fed.) were found under irrigation at 100 % pan evaporation , while the highest values of water applied (2463.5and 2530.5 m3/fed.) were recorded with traditional irrigation in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively.
- The amount of water applied (2266.23 and 2334.2m3/fed.) with flow rate of 30 L/sec. was higher than that 2087.9 and 2140.1m3/fed. with flow rate of 60 L/sec in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively.
- Water consumptive use (m3/fed) generally behaved the same trend of water applied for all treatments.
- Water application efficiency values were higher with treatments which irrigated at 100% and 80% from cumulative pan evaporation and 60%depletion from available water than traditional treatment. Also, the values were increased with increasing flow rate. Irrigation losses had almost the opposite trend to that encountered with water application efficiency.
- The highest average values of CWUE and FWUE were recorded under irrigation at 100 % pan evaporation and flow rate of 60 L/sec. in the two growing seasons.
- Irrigation at 80 % from cumulative pan evaporation achieved the highest value of water application efficiency (77.00 and 76.91%) in the 1st and 2nd seasons, respectively.
It can be recommended to use evaporation pan class A in irrigation scheduling (proper time and amount of water) to maximize the return from unit of water applied and save irrigation water.