Egypt is situated in the North East of Africa and includes parts of Asia (Sinai Peninsula). Egypt is a country of tremendous land resources but limited water resources. The gross area of Egypt is about one million km2 while the area of cultivated land is hardly exceeding 31,500 km2 or only 3.15% of the gross area. The population is concentrated on almost 5% of the gross area only, in the narrow strip, which borders the river Nile in the upper and middle part of the country and in the Nile Delta in the lower part. The population of Egypt increased dramatically from 8 million in 1898 to about 65 million at present. It is expected that the population will reach 100 million by the year 2025. Due to this huge increase the per capita share of land fell from 0.28 ha in 1898 to 0.05 ha in 1999. Not only the per capita share of land is going down; the per capita share of water is also falling sharply. Now, this share is already below the so-called “water-poverty” line of about 1,000 m3 per capita per year. The annual availability of water per capita is at present 850 m3. It will be even further reduced to an expected amount of 555 m3 by 2025. Expansion of irrigated agriculture has to be predominantly realized by increasing the water use efficiency. In Egypt, the dominant irrigation method is surface irrigation. It covers approximately 85% of the irrigated areas. The rest lies under modern irrigation systems (sprinkler 12.5 % and drip 2.5 %). Surface irrigation methods (gravity methods) are generally characterized by low efficiency. One opportunity to increase productivity of Nile water is to capture more of the drainage outflow and to convert it into a productive use. However, initial estimates based on downstream environmental outflow requirements show only 4 to 5 billion m3 can be captured with conservation efforts. Only well conceived projects to increase efficiency on a local level may achieve slight increases in the depleted fraction when these reduce drainage discharge to the sea. Surge flow is a practical tool to conserve that water. It is a technique in furrow irrigation that can contribute to improved application efficiencies and distribution uniformity with diminished water and sediment losses. This MSc thesis presents a research proposal to select some ways for water saving under Egyptian conditions. Literature reviews show that surge flow irrigation may save water and increase crop production and therefor it might be a promising method in Egypt. However, there are many limitations in surge flow irrigation that need more investigation, especially in short fields. These limitations are: - its application is limited to land, which is suitable for surface irrigation; - the variability of surge flow effects on compacted and uncompacted furrows may still exist in a reduced form. Moreover, the relationships between stream size and length of furrow and cycle time need more investigations; - more information is needed to establish the best management practices, including the optimum combination of inflow rates, cycle times, and number of surges; - appropriate slope configurations to minimize runoff and deep percolation. Surge flow irrigation method might be recommended for Egypt for several reasons, which are - the application of surge flow irrigation is limited to land, which is suitable for surface irrigation. This means that 85% of the cultivated area in Egypt is potentially suitable for surge flow irrigation; - surge flow irrigation can be used in furrows or in borders, so it is suitable for the most important crops in Egypt, as these crops are cultivated in furrows except wheat, which is cultivated in borders or basins; - the expenses are less than for sprinkler or drip irrigation. Meanwhile, its net return is the highest in comparison to six other irrigation systems, namely medium pressure center-pivot (MPCP), low pressure center-pivot (LPCP), low, drift nozzle center-pivot (LDN), low energy precision application center-pivot (LEPA), furrow flood (FF), surge flow (SF), and subsurface drip (SD); - surge flow is an effective method to get higher crop yield production; - surge flow saves water in an effective way. From this study follows that, this topic should be extensively investigated in a Ph.D. Research. The main objectives of the research, will be to formulate those measures, which improve surface irrigation methods on farm scale, increase water saving and increase field crop production by applying surge flow irrigation under conditions that prevail in Egypt.

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A field experiment was conducted during 2016 and 2017 seasons at the Agriculture Research Station of King Abdulaziz University at Hada Al-Sham, Saudi Arabia in a split plot design to investigate the response of Mungbean [(Vigna radiate (L.)Wilczek] MN-96 cv. to three irrigation water regimes(100%, 80% and 60% of water requirements)and three humic acid (HA) rates (15, 30 and 45 kg/ha HA) was mixed with the soil surface. Seed yield and yield components were significantly similar under 30 and 45 kg HA/ha. No significantly differences were showed between seed yield/ha, yield components and IWUE under the 80% water regime with45 kg/ha HA and 100% water regime with 15 kg/ha HA.

Field experiment designed in a split plot with four replications was carried out at the Agriculture Research Station of King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to study the response of blue panic (Panicum antidotale L. Australian- 110 cv.) - alfalfa (Medicago sativa L., Cuf 101 USA cv.) forage production, quality and land and water use efficiencies to three irrigation water regimes and six intercropping mixing ratios. Main plots were 100%, 80% and 60% of crop water requirement (WR). Under each water regime six intercropping ratios: IC1 (1row alfalfa:1row blue panic), IC2 (2alfalfa:1blue panic), IC3 (3alfalfa:1blue panic), IC4 (4alfalfa: 2blue panic), IC5 (alfalfa) and IC6 (blue panic) were investigated. Results revealed that difference in fresh and dry forage yields between the 100%WR and 80%WR treatments were minimal in all cuts. IC5 produced the least forage yield while IC6 produced the highest compared to all treatments. IC1 produced the highest forage yield compared with IC2, IC3 and IC4. Irrigation water use efficiency of 80%WR was higher than in 100%WR but fewer than in 60%WR. The highest land equivalent ratio was obtained from IC1. Intercropping ratios increased protein content in forage compared to blue panic sole plantation. Applying 80%WR reduced dry matter yield by 10% while save 20% of irrigation water also applying 60%WR reduced dry matter yield by 20.7% and save 40% of irrigation water.

This research was conducted during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasonsin the Agricultural Research Station, King Abdulaziz University at Hada Al-Sham region, Saudi Arabia to produce mungbean as a new legume crop in Saudi Arabia using low water consumption through maximizing crop yield with optimizing irrigation water use efficiency under drought stress during vegetative and flowering growth stages.No significant differences were found between the yield and yield components when practicing water stress during vegetative stage compared with full irrigation treatment in the two seasons. MN96 cv. was significantly dominated over NMf cv. in all studied traits except flowering date.The highest IWUE and seed yield/ha were obtained from the MN96 cv. under full irrigation and water stress during vegetative stage without significantly differences between them in the two seasons.

A field experiment was conducted at the Agriculture Research Station of King Abdulaziz University to study the response of sudan grass (Sorghum sudanensis L.) cv. California Gold and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) cv. KN-10. productivity to different irrigation methods and water application under arid conditions. Three irrigation methods including surface drip (SD), sub-surface drip (SSD) and sprinkler irrigation (SPI) were investigated. Under each irrigation method, one full irrigation treatment (100% of water requirement [WR]) and two water stress treatments (75% WR and 50% WR) were studied. Sudan grass and pearl millet crops were cultivated under each water regime for two consecutive seasons and cut several times for evaluating the production and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). Results revealed that SSD produced the highest forage yield under full and stress treatments in both crops followed by SD. SPI produced the least forage yield compared with SD and SSD in 2014 and 2015 seasons. Decreasing water application decreased yield production and increased IWUE under SD and SSD but decreased them under SPI. Increasing number of cuts decreased yield and IWUE in both crops. Under full and stress treatments, sudan grass produced higher forage yield than pearl millet. Irrigation water use efficiency was the best under SSD followed by SD and SPI, respectively. Irrigation water use efficiency of 100 and 75% were significantly similar in both investigated crops.