The use of agricultural water is the main among all uses of water. Water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges for crop production. In areas with water shortages, water savings in agricultural production is critical and essential. Improved irrigation management strategies and efficient use of irrigation water are the most cost-effective tools to address water conservation issues. Deficit irrigation is a method to increase water use efficiency, decrease water demand, and improve the yield of crops. In deficit irrigation practice, agricultural water productivity (yield per unit of water used) must be improved. Increasing water productivity is a vital element in improved water management for sustainability, health ecosystem functioning, and food security. Maximizing water productivity is better than land productivity for the dry agriculture system.
Improving water productivity is impossible with water stress unless nutrient deficiencies, weeds, and diseases are removed. The general target of this review is to review the effect of deficit irrigation on crop yield and water productivity from the existing literature. The reviewed literature indicated that deficit irrigation approaches improve the yield of maize, onion, tomato and faba bean crops and the efficiency or water productivity of water use.
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Irrigation & Drainage Systems Engineering received 835 citations as per Google Scholar report
