Porous Clay Capsules and Their Application in Fulfilling Plants Water Needs in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

Maintaining soil moisture content at about field capacity and reducing water loss in near root zone using sub-irrigation methods plays a key role in developing soil and water management programs. Providing soil moisture can be an efficient method of subirrigation systems for many orchards at arid and semi-arid regions. In this research, in order to provide the water requirement of grape plant were used porous clay capsules with height and diameter of 12 cm and 3.5 cm, respectively. The water consumption, yield production and water use efficiency were evaluated and compared in both drip and porous clay irrigation systems. The results showed that the irrigation types significantly affect water consumption and water use efficiency. The average water consumption and yield production with buried clay capsules and drip irrigation methods on grapevine plant were 4050 and 6668 M3.ha-1 and 14.2 and 14.8 Ton.ha-1, respectively. According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that using buried porous clay capsules leads to higher water use efficiency compared to drip irrigation in growing grapevine plant in arid and semiarid regions.