In an experiment carried out in Uzbekistan on a deep silt loam, for the autumn-summer periods of 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, two irrigation scheduling methods for both furrow and drip irrigated winter wheat were investigated. Water use was established using the soil water balance approach on a weekly basis. Neutron probes, calibrated for each soil horizon, were used for measurements of soil profile water content. Irrigations were scheduled when soil moisture in the root zone was depleted by the crop to a specific fraction of field capacity (FC) for each of the three main plant growth periods. Results of the experiment showed that, for furrow irrigated winter wheat, grain yield for an irrigation scheduling regime of 70-80-70% of FC was 0.14 Mg/ha larger than that achieved using scheduling of irrigation at 70-70-60% of FC; and, using drip irrigation, yield was 0.15 Mg/ha larger for the 70-80-70% regime compared with the 70-70-60% regime. Average additional yield for drip irrigation in comparison with furrow irrigation was 0.33 Mg/ha using the irrigation scheduling treatment of 70-80-70% of FC. Regardless of the scheduling regime used, irrigation water use efficiency was always larger for drip irrigation than for furrow irrigation.
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