Abstract:
Knowing the performance of short season crops under deficit irrigation has a paramount importance for
arid and semi-arid regions with limited access to on-farm water harvesting or other irrigation infrastructure. In this research, the performance of mungbean, a newly introduced crop into the cropping systems in
Ethiopia, to stage-wise and uniform deficit irrigation was tested at Sekota Dryland Agricultural Research
Center, Northern Ethiopia. Eight treatments – four stage-wise deficit and four uniform deficit irrigation
applications were evaluated during the 2010/2011 dry season. Plant phenological variables, grain yield
and irrigation water use efficiency were used for performance evaluation. The results showed that a
uniform water stress shortened the dates to 50% flowering and maturity, but with proportionate reduction in yield. The yield obtained varied between 1366 kg/ha under 331 mm optimal seasonal irrigation
to 492 kg/ha when one-fourth of ETc (102 mm) was uniformly applied though out the growing season.
The flowering/reproductive stage was noted as the most sensitive growth stage with a 24.9% yield reduction compared to the control treatment. In all other stages, yield is linearly associated (R
2
= 0.93) with the
amount of irrigation water applied, over the range tested. IWUE values ranged from 0.248 to 0.304 kg/m
3
.
It can therefore be concluded that provided stress at the midseason stage is avoided and depending on the
volume of water available, different deficit irrigation arrangements using on-farm pond water is possible.
