ABSTRACT
Most important citrus cultivar commercially grown in central India is Nagpur mandarin Citrus (Citrus reticulata Blanco), and is third largest fruit crop cultivated in India. The production is 0.875 Mha on 0.148 Mha cultivated area. The factors that contribute to low productivity (11 tons per ha) are: scarcity of water resources; poor soil; low application efficiency of conventional irrigation methods; inadequate maintenance of pressurized irrigation systems; insufficient technical services to the grower; and need for constant soil moisture throughout growth and fruit development stages. Gravity method (Basin irrigation) is commonly used in Nagpur mandarin orchards, however, it has high irrigation losses (conveyance, percolation, evaporation, and distribution losses) and the performance of citrus crop is poor with this system [20, 21].
