TITLE:
Assessing the Effect of Irrigation Water Management Strategies on Napier Productivity—A Review
AUTHORS:
Ivan Ntege, Nicholas Kiggundu, Joshua Wanyama, Prossie Nakawuka
KEYWORDS:
Napier, Climate Change, Irrigation, Deficit irrigation, FAO AquaCrop
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.12 No.12,
December
15,
2021
ABSTRACT: Napier, a fast growing and perennial grass has a dry matter (DM) yield potential of 78 tons/ha/yr. However, under water availability constraints Napier’s yield potential reduces to 62 tons/ha/yr. In an effort to attain Napier’s yield potential, irrigation management strategies have been integrated into its production to provide the highest productivity. This review assesses the effect of irrigation water management strategies on Napier productivity and also looks at future perspectives. Application of these strategies i.e., precision irrigation, deficit irrigation, and application of biophysical models, can increase Napier’s yield potential to 112 tons/ha/yr. Review findings revealed that there is a need to close the knowledge gap on response of Napier productivity to different irrigation water management strategies. The future perspective explores the potential of the FAO AquaCrop model in provision of pre-season decision-making on irrigation strategies due to its relatively low cost and simplifications required in parameterization.