Needs and Effects of Use Sprinkler Irrigation Systems in Crops Production in Central Poland on the Example of Spring Malting Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

The purpose of the paper was to determine the yielding and production needs and effects of sprinkler irrigated spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) depending on the intensity of droughts occurring during its period of high water needs spanning May and June. The paper was based on the results of field experiments with irrigated barley cultivars, carried out in 2006–2017 on Luvisol (LV) with fine sandy loam texture, in central Poland – the zone of the greatest need for supplementary irrigation in terms of climatic criterion. The results proved that the yield of non-irrigated crops depended significantly on meteorological parameters and was characterized by very high variability, while sprinkler irrigation contributed to a significant yield increase of 42% and yield stabilization in years. The coefficient of variation calculated for the yield of irrigated plants decreased from 29 to 17%. Irrigation water doses as well as grain yield increases caused by sprinkler irrigation depended significantly on weather conditions in the period of high water needs of barley. Formulas developed on the basis of this analysis enable the forecasts of needs and effects of irrigation based on rainfall totals or rainfall/evapotranspiration ratio.