Optimizing Irrigation Strategies for Wheat in Sindh: Balancing Yield, Water Use Efficiency, and Water Footprint

Water scarcity jeopardizes food production in arid and semi-arid regions, making efficient irrigation crucial to enhance water use efficiency (WUE) and sustain crop yields.Thus, a study was conducted to measure the impact of three furrow irrigation methods (FIM) conventional furrow irrigation (CFI), alternate furrow irrigation (AFI), and fixed furrow irrigation (FFI) combined with three different irrigation levels (IL) (100%; 80%, and 60% crop water requirement) on crop growth, yield attributes, grain yield, biomass, WUE, and blue water footprint of wheat crop during the Rabi season 2022-2023 in Tandojam, Hyderabad. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design(RCBD) with three replications. Results illustrated that FIMs and ILs had a substantial (P 0.05). Compared with AFI and FFI, CFI had substantiallyhigher grain yield (11.1-15.3%) and biomass (5.0-12.3%), lower WUE (1.23-31.86%), and higher blue water footprint (41.7-46.7%). Whereas AFI compared with CFI saved water by 39.13%, improved WUE by 31.86%, and loweredblue water footprint by 29.86%, with a moderate yield decrease (13.22%) at 80% crop water requirement. Therefore, AFI combined with an 80% crop water requirement is recommended as an efficient irrigation strategy for wheat in water-scarce areas.