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Product information
Oktober 2017
36
Drip irrigation
– a new revolution
for the maize industry
B
etween 2014 and 2016 South Africa experienced severe
drought conditions in their biggest maize producing areas.
Netafim South Africa realised that it is time to re-evaluate
our irrigation practices, on arguably South Africa’s most
important crop.
As the pioneer and global leader in drip and micro irrigation solu-
tions, Netafim has carried out many drip irrigated maize projects
all over the world. We have extensive experience in providing ad-
vanced drip systems for maize of all sizes. Drip enables optimal uni-
form soil moisture with outstanding aeration and directly disperses
water and nutrients to the crop’s root zone. Therefore, increasing
yields while lowering nutrient and water usage, drip is the most
cost-efficient irrigation solution.
Recently, with the help of Netafim Israel, Netafim South Africa has
started to explore the South African maize market and analysed
the general irrigation practices. They believe there is huge potential,
not only to save water with drip irrigation, but also to increase yields
that will benefit the producer greatly at the end of the day.
The reason for the water saving with drip irrigation, is because the
water is applied much more effectively, directly to the soil and sub-
sequently the root zone where the water and nutrients are taken up
by the plant. Drip irrigation can be installed below the surface, nor-
mally at a depth of between 30 cm to 40 cm, or above surface where
the dripper lines and pipes are installed after germination.
The general practice is to install one dripline between two maize
rows, depending on whether your row width and the distance be-
tween the laterals will differ. For example, if you plant 76 cm rows
there will be a dripline every 1,52 m, again either subsurface or on-
surface.
One of the biggest benefits of these drip irrigation systems is
that you can apply fertilisers accurately and at the right time when
the plant’s requirements are at its peak. Base fertiliser is still rec-
ommended and after that the balance of the season’s fertiliser
can be applied through the drip irrigation system according to the
plant’s phenological stage and requirements throughout the grow-
ing season.
Netafim South Africa has started with trials in the Bultfontein
area and received their first results after harvest in May this year.
The trial consisted of 2,2 ha, planted on 10 November last year, with
a population of 80 000 plants per hectare.
The dripper lines were installed on the surface every 1,52 m. Integral
drippers (emitters inside the extruded pipe) with a delivery rate of
1 litre/ha and 0,6 m spacing between emitters were used.
Fertiliser was applied according to a target yield of 15 t/ha. 25% of
the total fertiliser was applied at planting and the remaining 75% was
applied throughout the growing season at weekly or fortnightly in-
tervals through the drip irrigation system.
On average, a yield of 18 t/ha was produced on the trial area with
only 200 mm of water applied during the growing season. In com-
parison the centre pivots, on the same farm with similar population,
harvested 12 t/ha with 600 mm of water applied.
This clearly shows the massive saving in water that can be achieved
without compromising on yield. In fact, this shows that yield can
be increased while using our most important resource, water, ef-
ficiently at the same time. For the coming season, further trials and
investigations are planned in the different maize producing areas of
South Africa.
The goal at the end of the day is to work more efficiently with the
resources that we have available, especially water, while at the same
time increasing yields and return on investment to the producer.
FOCUS
Irrigation
Special
MICHAEL ESMERALDO,
agronomist, Netafim South Africa
1: Maize cobs from the trial at Bultfontein.
2: The goal at the end of the day is to work more efficiently with the resources that we have
available, especially water, while at the same time increasing yields.
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