Sustainable Water Management for Potato Production in Drought Prone Areas in Bangladesh

Water management practices are an essential component of modern intensive potato (Solanum tuberosum) production. A farmer’s field based experiment was conducted in Multi Location Testing (MLT) site, Khalashpir, Rangpur under On-Farm Research Division, Rangpur during two years of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 to find out the effect of irrigation scheduling with crop growth stages over conventional practice in potato. Four irrigation treatments were studied under the trial and the treatments were, I1= Farmers practice, I2= Irrigation at stolonization and tuberization stages, I3= Irrigation at stolonization and bulking stages and I4= Irrigation at stolonization, tuberization and bulking stages. The highest yield was recorded in I3 (23.11 tha-1 and 20.27 tha-1) whereas lowest was in I1 (19.11 tha-1 and 17.13 tha-1). The highest gross margin was recorded in I3 (BDT.74610 ha-1 and BDT. 68210 ha-1) and lowest was in I1 (BDT. 36660 ha-1 and BDT. 28060 ha-1). Water savings can also be attained by allowing higher soil water depletion toward the ripening period so that all available stored water in the root zone is used by the crop. This practice may also hasten maturity. Correct timing of irrigation may save 1 to 3 irrigation applications as well as also save the production cost of the farmers.