2021, Vol. 4, Issue 2, Part A

The objective of this review paper is to organize relevant literature on management options for increasing water use efficiency. The review was organized by searching the research out puts from the various corners of the world. Water the major agricultural input whose scarcity is a major problem worldwide. The scarcity of water is one of the major limiting factors to crop production in the world. Water use efficiency refers to the rate at which water is used during plant growth while the ratio of yield to transpiration is transpiration efficiency. Agriculture consumes the most water and produces the most total evapotranspiration from agricultural land. Crop management starts with the sowing of seeds, continues with crop maintenance during growth and development, and ends with crop harvest, storage, and distribution. Improving the efficiency of agricultural water use is a major concern as water scarcity problems are becoming the key threats to agriculture. With growing concerns about the availability of water resources in both irrigated and rain fed agriculture, there is a renewed interest in trying to improve understanding of how the water use efficiency can be developed and how farming systems can be changed to be more efficient in water use. In order to use the available water for effective crop production, different management practices including crop residue return, organic fertilizer application, intercropping and optimization of water use are among the methods that can be employed for maximization of water use efficiency.