Response of Drip Irrigation and Fertigation on Cumin Yield, Quality, and Water-Use Efficiency Grown under Arid Climatic Conditions

A three-year field experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station of Mandor, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, under arid climatic conditions in the rabi season of 2016-2019 with the objectives of evaluating the effect of drip irrigation and fertigation levels on cumin plant growth, yield, oil content, water-use efficiency, and water productivity. The pooled data revealed that the drip irrigation at 0.6 cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) recorded significantly higher plant height (31.4 cm), umbels plant(-1) (50.4), umbellates umbel(-1) (5.07), seeds umbel(-1) (5.34), test weight (4.60 g), seed yield (1063 kg ha(-1)), gross return ((sic) 172,600 ha(-1)), net return ((sic) 113,500 ha(-1)) and benefit, and cost ratio (2.9) over drip fertigation at 0.4 CPE and surface irrigation with 0.8 CPE. The fertigation with 80% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) being at par with 100% RDF recorded a significantly higher number of umbels plant(-1) (50.0), umbellates umbel(-1) (5.03), seeds umbellate(-1) (5.24), test weight (4.67 g), seed yield (1052 kg ha(-1)), gross return ((sic) 170,900 ha(-1)), net return ((sic) 111,700 ha(-1)), and benefit cost ratio (2.9) over fertigation with 60% RDF and control. Maximum water-use efficiency (5.7 kg ha(-1) mm(-1)) and water saving (39.04%) was observed under drip irrigation at 0.4 CPE followed by 0.6 CPE (4.8 kg ha(-1) mm(-1) and 18.86%, respectively).