Irrigation management in Pomegranate
A healthy Pomegranate crop is hugely dependent on timely irrigation, plant protection management, and fertilizer application. But particularly, irrigation is a significant determinant of a healthy harvest as it directly or indirectly controls crop yield, fruit size, fruit quality, and even disease and pest attacks.
Pomegranate is a water-sensitive crop. Hence, the drip irrigation method is more suitable and popular for this crop. Drip irrigation also helps save water as well as maintain uniform soil moisture levels, to avoid weed growth and the spread of diseases.
Water management challenges for pomegranate crop:
The pomegranate crop is susceptible to both over and under irrigation — waterlogging due to over-irrigation is bad for the crop and at the same time, it also cannot withstand dry conditions. Hence, giving the right amount of water at the right time becomes very important to growing a healthy crop.
Over irrigation:
Flood irrigation methods or frequent water supply in the field can very easily cause over-irrigation in the pomegranate crop. Over irrigation leads to excessive soil moisture which can directly affect soil aeration. Soil aeration is essential for the root system to breathe. Lack of soil aeration can result in root rot.
Moreover, the excess soil moisture invites various pests and soil-borne diseases in the crop. Fruit crack and wilting are among some common problems seen due to over-irrigation.
Under irrigation:
Under irrigation leads to water deficits that decrease vegetative and fruit growth rates.
Studies show that the relative yield for selected cultivars decreased by 24% to 45% when irrigation water volume was decreased to certain units. Also, if the soil is water deficient for several seasons, it can reduce long-term orchard productivity.
How to solve the water management challenges in pomegranate crops:
Precision irrigation:
Precise irrigation is necessary for the pomegranate crop for commercial crop production. It involves the application of water and nutrients to the crop, in sufficient volumes, at the right time.
Precision irrigation can be applied on the pomegranate farm by deploying soil moisture sensors that could help to determine the soil’s exact water requirement at the root zone. Hence, precise quantities of water can be applied to the soil.
Giving the exact quantities of water needed by the crop can help avoid the conditions of over and under irrigation and can also help farmers save a lot of water in the long run.
Avoid moisture stress:
Moisture stress at certain critical stages like flowering and fruit set can lead to yield losses. During the fruiting stage, uniform soil moisture is required. Frequent and drastic variation in soil moisture leads to cracking of fruits, amounting to heavy economic loss.
Irrigating the crop based on the exact moisture level in the root zone can prevent the crop from going through any water stress. To maintain uniform soil moisture in the root zone, drip irrigation systems can be installed.
How Fasal helps manage irrigation in pomegranate crop:
- The water requirement of the pomegranate plant cannot be decided only by one or two factors, but it depends on several aspects like the type of soil, climate, region, humidity, stage of the crop, etc.
- Fasal is a complete package of crop intelligence that monitors all these factors and helps the farmers to take day-to-day farm decisions with utmost precision.
- The Fasal system forewarns the farmers of any chances of rainfall in the next 14 days, which him/her make better irrigation decisions.
- Every Fasal system is equipped with soil moisture sensors that alert the farmers as and when the soil is required to be irrigated.
- These sensors also help with the right amount of water needed for irrigation based on the exact soil moisture measurements.
