Mehiret Hone*, Bakasho Iticha and Samuel Lindi
Water shortage is one of the major challenges faced by the current agricultural systems worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. The response of potato crops to moisture stress was evaluated in Ziway Dugda district for two consecutive years during the dry season. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of soil moisture stress at different growth stages on the yield and water productivity of potatoes. Fifteen treatments were combined and imposed at four growth stages. The experiment was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The combined result of two years indicated that, moisture stress imposed at different growth stages significantly (P<0.05) affected potato tuber yield, and water productivity. The highest tuber yield (19,521 kg/ha) was obtained at control treatments where all the growth stage is irrigated, this result is followed by a treatment receiving moisture stress only during the late season (19,516 kg/ha). On the other hand, the lowest tuber yield (5,663 kg/ha) was obtained when the potato crop was irrigated only during the initial season. The highest water productivity (8.70 kg/m3) and the lowest WP (3.56 kg/m3) were obtained when potato was irrigated only at the initial stage (T15) and irrigated in all states except the mid-season stage (T4). Treatments that received irrigation only at the initial stage showed better water productivity. Therefore, in areas where irrigation water is not limited potatoes should be irrigated in all growth stages (T1), otherwise, irrigate potatoes only during the development stages or development and midseason to maximize water productivity.
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