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Wednesday, July 03, 2024
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മലയാളം
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Agriculture >
Plantation Crops > Coconut (Cocosnucifera)
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Crop Management
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Water Management : Irrigation
Conventional basin irrigation
Irrigate the palms during summer months in basins around palms as shown below:
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Parameters
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Soil texture
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Sandy
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Sandy loam
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Loam
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Silty clay
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Available soil moisture (cm/m)
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8
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12
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17
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21
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Quantity of water / irrigation / palm in litres in a basin of 1.8 m radius
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600
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900
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1300
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1600
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Frequency of irrigation (days)
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All areas in Kerala except north eastern portion of Thrissur and Palakkad dis tricts
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3-4
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5
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7-8
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9
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North eastern portion of Thrissur and Palakkad districts
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2-3
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3-4
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5-6
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6-7
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Note: In coastal sandy soils, seawater
can be used for irrigation. In irrigated gardens, interruption of irrigation would
lead to serious set back in yield and general condition of palms. Hence, when once
started, irrigation should be continued regularly and systematically. In sandy loam
soil, irrigating the crop with 500 litres of water through basin taken at 1.5 m
radius at CPE value of 50 mm (approximate interval of 15 days) is most economical.
Do not irrigate seedlings and very young palms with seawater.
Drip irrigation
In the traditional system of irrigation followed in coconut gardens such as flood
irrigation, basin irrigation etc. irrigation efficiency is only 30 to 50 per cent
due to considerable wastage of water. In addition, cost on inputs like labour and
energy in adopting these systems are high. Scarcity of water and increasing cost
of labour and energy are deterrents in adopting these traditional irrigation systems.
Under these circumstances, drip irrigation is the most suitable system of irrigation
to coconut.
Some of the major advantages of drip irrigation are:
- it saves water,
- enhances plant
growth and yield,
- saves energy and
labour, most suited for soils having low water holding capacity and undulating terrain,
- reduces weed growth
and improves efficiency of fertilizers.
For coconut, generally, three to four drippers are given per palm. The water requirement
for an adult palm is 40 to 50 litres per day.
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