Water is the primary input for plantation. Quality of water is assuming great importance with the increasing demand in industries, agriculture and rise in standard of living especially in urban parts of globe. The climatic conditions, sea water ingression and water scarcity problems are the main issues while plantation on barren land.
However, dwindling of freshwater resources and deterioration of irrigation water quality due to its overuse to meet up the high demands in agriculture, industries & urban sector becomes the serious concern in sustainable forest creation & restoration.
We have learned of Water recycling techniques for plantation and important irrigation principles, such as wetting the root zone and not the soil.
Clay-pot or pitcher irrigation is one of the most efficient systems of irrigation known and is ideal for barren land where there is no other means of irrigation is possible.
It also helps to improve soil physical properties particularly the structural status in soil and also enhances the water use efficiency of the soil organic carbon and builds up soil fertility.
Pitcher irrigation is a self-regulative, low-cost & eco-friendly technique of irrigation having high potential of energy saving, water saving & very efficient in Orchard or Fruit forest planting.
In this method, unpolished backed earthen pitchers buried into the soil up to neck, filled with water which slowly seeps out through their pores wall into the root zone by the action of static and soil suction pressure. The seepage rate is directly correspondent to the pitchers’ conductance and potential evapotranspiration of crops and is controlled by the moisture content in the soil matrix or its environments, namely the soil, environment, climate and plants and the pitcher.
Advantages of Pitcher Irrigation:
Pitcher irrigation is still used in the dry-lands of India & across globe on a limited basis.
It has been successfully used for a wide range of annual and perennial plants including many vegetables and fruits on barren land, on a dumping yard, on Rock Mountains.
It is especially useful in difficult conditions of high salinity, extreme aridity, limited water supply and limited resources, near sea side.
The water use efficiency of irrigation systems depends on many factors including soil type, crop type, weed competition and microclimate.
The experimental test has been suggested of pitcher irrigation may use as little as 10% of the water used in conventional surface irrigation.
