Water is key to food security, as agriculture requires large quantities of water for irrigation, which according to a UN report claims close to 70 percent of all freshwater appropriated for human use.

A scientific study supported by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has revealed that trickle-irrigation reduces water consumption without adversely affecting the productivity and quality of dates’ crop.

“A recent scientific study showed that the water consumption rate for date-palm trees using the different irrigation systems — basin irrigation, bubbler irrigation and trickle irrigation was 19,710, 14,235 and 16,790 (m 3 / ha / year) respectively,” an official at the KACST media center said.

The study supported by KACST and conducted over for the duration of two agricultural seasons showed that the maximum value of the crop co-efficient for the palm trees under the different irrigation systems was 1.0, 1.2 and 1.1 for the trickle irrigation, basin irrigation and the bubbler irrigation respectively, he said.

The official further said that the study aimed to determine the impact of irrigation systems and water resources on the productivity of palm trees in terms of the quantity and quality of the crop. Twenty-four palm trees were randomly chosen representing two types of palms — Sukariah and Rabiaa (12 palm trees of each species).

Moreover, the crop for each season was collected to estimate productivity, while physical and chemical analyzes were conducted on 100 dates, which were randomly chosen from the crop of each palm-tree.

During the course of the study, the daily changes in soil moisture content were monitored using the neutron probe device while the water balance method was used to calculate the amount of water given to each tree and the rate of the soil deep leakage in the study area.

The study recommended the importance of using the trickle irrigation system and the bubbler irrigation system to irrigate palm trees, as it also recommended the need to determine values of water to design and manage irrigation systems.