Study of hydrogel application as an innovation in water conservation to increase productivity of water and land resources in Central Tajikistan

¹ Chair of Land Reclamation, Recultivation and Protection of Land, Tajik Agrarian University named after Sh. Shotemur, Tajikistan
² Department of Innovative Technologies, Institute of Water Problems, Hydropower and Ecology, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Tajikistan
³ Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers” National Research University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
⁴ State institution “Tajik Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation”, Tajikistan

^* Corresponding author: tj_water@mail.ru

Abstract

Year after year, water resources are in short supply in Central Asian countries due to population growth, economic development, urbanization, climate change, and an overall increase in demand. This situation necessitates the development of new technological methods, as well as the discovery of ways to conserve water in order to use water resources more efficiently and improve the moisture supply of agricultural crops. This research focuses on the use of hydrogel as a water conservation innovation, with the goal of increasing water and land resource productivity in Central Tajikistan. The proposed research on the use of hydrogels in Tajikistan has not been previously studied. It has been proven that the use of hydrogel has a positive effect on the water-physical properties of the soil and during the growing season creates favorable conditions for the growth and development of plants, thereby ensuring a stable harvest of raw cotton and wheat grain. The use of hydrogel provided an increase in the yield of raw cotton by 0.95 t/ha and 1.2 t/ha of winter wheat. The effectiveness of the hydrogel was obvious, especially in rainfed farming conditions (without irrigation). It has been established that the use of hydrogels reduces the number of vegetation irrigations due to an increase in the inter-irrigation period, significantly reduces the irrigation rate (by at least 40%) and reduces the leaching of mineral fertilizers. The practical feasibility of using hydrogel is to increase the water-holding capacity of the soil and the efficient use of precipitation and irrigation water, saving irrigation water and uniform water distribution and moistening of the field, eliminating irrigation soil erosion and increasing crop yields compared to traditional technology. The developed recommendation will be aimed at introducing the use of hydrogel in rainfed (without irrigation) and irrigated agriculture in Tajikistan.