The irrigation and production costs 0 f irrigated citrus farms by four different
irrigation systems (drip, low head bubbler, gated pipes and traditional surface
irrigation) were evaluated. The results indicated that the capital and total annual costs
of traditional surface irrigation (280 and 142.1LEIFed respectively)are considerably
cheaper than that of the other irrigation systems, while drip irrigation has the highest
capital and total annual costs (2230 and 533.4 LEIFed) for citrus. Irrigation water
requirements for citrus irrigating were reduced by 44.4%, 37.5% and 23.1% when
using drip, bubbler and gated pipes irrigation systems respectively compared to the
traditional surface irrigation. On the other hand, the citrus yield reduced by 13.8%,
8.2% and 3.7% under drip, bubbler and gated pipes irrigation systems respectively
compared to traditional surface irrigation in the first season, while, the yield increased
by 37%, 20.5% and 6.8% under drip, bubbler and gated pipes irrigation systems
respectively in the third season. This increase in yield under drip and low head
bubbler irrigation systems helped in covering the initial cost of these systems. The
highest net profit (2746.6 LEIFed) for citrus was obtained by using drip system,
followed by low head bubbler (2375.6 LEIFed), while the lowest net profit was
(1902.9LE/(ed) by using traditional surface irrigation.