تاثير مديريت سطح ايستابي بر عملكرد محصول يونجه يكساله در منطقه نيمه خشك ايران

A Study of the Effect of Management of Water Table Level on Annual Alfalfa (Medicato scatella) Yield in the Semi Arid Region of Iran

A field study was conducted in Iran to evaluate the effect of water table management (WTM) on the yield of annual alfalfa (Medicago scatella). The WTM treatments consisted of three subirrigation treatments with water table controls set at 0.3 m (CWT0.3), 0.5 m (CWT0.5), 0.7 m (CWT0.7) from the soil surface and a free drainage (FD) treatment (water table more than 1.00 m below soil surface). Crop yield was higher in CWT than in FD. Alfalfa yields in the CWT0.3 and CWT0.5 treatments were 73.5% and 94.3% respectively greater than in the FD treatment. Yield increases were attributed to greater crop water uptake in the CWT treatments as a result of higher water tables. Irrigation water consumption was lower in CWT than in FD resulting in higher water use efficiencies in CWT treatments. Water use efficiencies were 0.83,0.97,0.6, and 0.?n kilograms per cubic meter respectively in CWT0.3, CWT0.5,CWT0.7 and FD.