Water smart technologies for irrigation water management of elephant foot yam in tropical zones of India

Abstract

Water is the most crucial input in agriculture and declared to become the most scarce input in the near future, hence, judicious management of irrigation water is the need of the hour in tropical countries. In this study, a comparison of different water smart technologies, namely, porous ground cover mat, super absorbent polymer, partial root zone drying technique, bio mulching and foliar application of antitranspirant was made for enhancing water productivity in tuber crops using elephant foot yam as the test crop. Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is an important tropical tuber crop in India, and has attained commercial status in many states under assured irrigation. Mulching with ground cover mat and soil application of cassava starch-based super absorbent polymer recorded higher water productivity, reduced irrigation water requirement to 50% and enhanced the corm yield of elephant foot yam by 8–12% and energy use efficiency by 24–28% as compared to 100% irrigation. In the context of expected climate change and water scarcity, water smart technologies such as ground cover mats and super absorbent polymers would help in the cultivation of the tuber crop elephant foot yam with less irrigation, without adversely affecting the corm yield under humid tropical situations.