Abstract:
Agriculture is the main contributor of the Ethiopian economy as it accounts for about 46%
of the GDP, 85% of the export and 80% of the employment opportunities. Field experiment
was conducted at Werer Agricultural Research center to evaluate the effects of drip and
furrow irrigation under different irrigation levels on maize yield and water use efficiency.
The experiment was laid out in split plot design where drip and furrow irrigations were
assigned as main plot and irrigation levels (100, 85, 70 and 55% of ETc) were assigned in
the sub plot arrangement with three blocks. The highest seasonal water requirement of maize
was 1169.5 mm at 100% ETc under conventional furrow irrigation which is considered as
control while the lowest was 321.6 mm at 55% ETc under alternative furrow irrigation. The
analysis of variance revealed that there was significant (p<0.05) difference in yield among
treatments and the interaction effect of irrigation system and irrigation levels show highly
significant (p<0.01) difference among treatments. The highest yield (16.7t/ha) was obtained
from drip irrigation with 100% of ETc application and while the lowest (4.04 t/ha) was
obtained from plots treated with alternative furrow irrigation at 55% ETc treatment. The
interaction effects of irrigation system and irrigation levels has shown a highly significant
(p<0.01) effect on water use efficiency. The highest (2.38 kg/m3
) and the lowest (0.60kg/m3
)
water use efficiency were recorded from the plots treated with drip irrigation at 100% ETc
and conventional furrow irrigation at 100% ETc treatments, respectively. Partial budget
analysis revealed that the most economically attractive combination for resource limited
farmers with lower cost of production and higher net benefits was from the application of
alternative furrow irrigation with 70% ETc. In terms of water use efficiency and economic
prominence, irrigating with drip irrigation system with 100% ETc can be recommended for
production of maize for investors. However, for resource limited farmers, in terms of, water
use efficiency and economic importance, alternative furrow irrigation with 70%ETc can be
recommended for production of maize in the study area
