Water challenges ahead for Israeli potato growers

Irrigation with sprinklers, rain guns, center pivots or linear systems – as opposed to furrow and drip irrigation delivering water under the canopy – distributes water overhead, much like natural rainfall does.

Of all irrigation practices, furrow irrigation loses most water through drainage and also loses more nitrogen through leaching than other irrigation practices. Drainage through deep percolation on the other hand is an advantage as it avoids accumulation of salts at the surface. Besides, erosion is considerable as the water flow to some extent always transports…

Where there is not enough rainfall and evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation, the crop is irrigated. That is if there is surface water or underground water available at acceptable distance and depth from the field. What is more, the grower needs to have available the capital to invest in equipment. The irrigation technique requiring the least investment…

Globally most potato cropping systems depend on irrigation for optimal yields. Many growers plan dose and time of irrigation from experience only, others apply a decision support system. Both approaches include knowledge about the amount of water in the topsoil: its rooting depth and the number of millimeters of water the plant is able to…