Enhancing Citrus Yield and Water Use Efficiency in Pakistan's Arid Zones: A Four Year Evaluation of Low Tech and High Tech Irrigation Methods

Water scarcity limits citrus production in arid areas of Pakistan. This study evaluated five irrigation techniques – basin irrigation (BI, control), surface drip irrigation (SDI), plastic bottle irrigation (BTI), pitcher irrigation (PI), and perforated plastic sleeves irrigation (PPSI) – for their effects on soil moisture, fruit yield, water productivity, and economic returns of five‑year‑old Kinnow mandarin trees over four growing seasons (2016–2019) at Fateh Jang. The experiment used a randomized complete block design with three replications. SDI significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased fruit yield (16,416 kg ha-¹) and water productivity (7.13 kg m-³) compared to BI (9,732 kg ha-¹ and 1.43 kg m-³, respectively). SDI also achieved the highest net return (Rs. 2,087,400 ha-¹) despite higher installation costs. PI and BTI produced intermediate yields (11,969–12,301 kg ha-¹) with water productivity 4–5 times higher than BI. PPSI showed the lowest performance among the water‑saving techniques. We conclude that surface drip irrigation is the most effective technique for enhancing water productivity (83%) and citrus yield (51%) under arid conditions, though pitcher and bottle irrigation offer affordable alternatives for resource‑limited farmers.