A simple irrigation program for potato farms under drip irrigation system in Fars province

Irrigation scheduling is necessary to obtain more crop yield per water. Irrigation scheduling gives the start and the end time of irrigation more accurate and scientific. Fars province is one the main potato cultivation area in Iran. In the present study, a simple and applicable irrigation schedule was obtained for the potato farms in three Fars province cities, Abadeh, Khorrambid, and Eghlid. The potato water requirement and the irrigation time were estimated using physical soil properties, drip irrigation systems properties and FAO Pennman-Montieth equation for 2009-2019. For a loamy soil texture, and supposing an irrigation efficiency of 70 percent, dripper distance of 30 centimeters, dripper flow rate of 2.4 liter per hour, the irrigation time will be 124 minutes. The irrigation frequency for Eghlid, Khorrambid and Abadeh will be 6, 6, and 7 times per a week, respectively. The four irrigation program tables can help farmers and engineers to obtain a suitable potato yield and decrease the used water.