Water Use Efficiency of Subsurface Drip Irrigation and Furrow Irrigation

The primary objective of this study was to compare water use efficiencies between subsurface drip irrigation and furrow irrigation. The uniformity of used drip lines was tested to determine if clogging would be a threat to the long-term success of a subsurface drip irrigation system. Three crops, cantaloupe, lettuce, and bell pepper, were grown in four plots for each irrigation system. Significantly less water was applied with subsurface drip irrigation than with furrow irrigation (29.5 % less for cantaloupe and 43.2 % less for bell poppet) in order to produce similar crop yields. Water use efficiencies with subsurface drip irrigation were significantly higher than those with furrow irrigation fur cantaloupe (P-value = 0.018) and bell pepper (P-value ${\leq}$ 0.001). Drip-irrigated lettuce, a shallow-rooted crop, had moderately higher water use efficiency during the first two seasons, while no difference was observed in the third season. After the experiment, the uniformity of the drip lines was 92.1 % on average and classified as good. The high values fur water use efficiency and uniformity indicate that subsurface drip irrigation can be a sustainable method for conserving irrigation water.