Published Paper Details:

Horticulture sector requires large volume of water. With the growing demand of the products but lacking resources like land and fresh water, practice of protected cultivation and drip irrigation method seem to be a boon for the farmers and nursery men. Drip irrigation, also known as micro-irrigation is one of the new method of irrigation and is mostly preferred as the mode of irrigation. It is high water use efficient ensuring uniform and quality production. In drip irrigation the water reaches the root zone of the flower crops directly with minimum mater loss. Drip irrigation is also called trickle irrigation as it involves dripping water into the soil at very low rates (2-18 litres/hour) from a system plastic pipes fitted having small diameter with outlets which are known as emitters or drippers. Micro irrigation is one of the best method of irrigation for the flower crops, home gardens, lawns, orchards, row crops, in sloppy field, open field, under protected cultivation. Fertigation term comes from fertilizer + irrigation, that is dissolving of soluble fertilizers in water and supply to the crops through irrigation method. Commercial flowers are mostly grown under protected condition to get round the year production. Most crops are water sensitive. Therefore, irrigation and its methods play a vital role for the quality production of crops. The response of different flowering crops to micro irrigation in protected cultivation is reviewed here.