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Irrigation by crop

Irrigation for soybean

A kharif crop grown mostly on rain in northern Telangana. What irrigation buys here is insurance — water at pod fill if the monsoon breaks.

Suits it best

Sprinkler

Usual row spacing

0.45 m

Water need

4–6.5 mm/day

Water need is the crop’s daily use at full cover over Aug–Sep, at weather stations across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — the spread is the season and the place.

Why sprinkler

Mostly rainfed. A protective irrigation at pod fill in a dry spell is what pays, and the state scheme puts oilseeds on sprinklers.

What actually changes the answer

  • Pod fill, in September, is when a dry spell costs most. It is the one protective irrigation worth giving.
  • Rows 45 cm apart under a canopy up to waist height: a sprinkler set is the practical way to water it, and the state scheme puts oilseeds on sprinklers.
  • Soybean takes no waterlogging. Broad bed and furrow sowing, which PJTSAU recommends, drains the excess and holds the rest.

How much pipe would soybean need?

Put in your acres and the estimator works it out against this crop’s layout, then prices the parts from our own catalogue at today’s prices.

Estimate my system

What you’d be buying

Sprinkler IrrigationLDPE Pipes

Spacings and layouts on this page are published package-of-practice and state-scheme figures; water need is FAO-56’s crop-coefficient method on published Telangana and Andhra Pradesh weather records. Neither is a design for your field — soil, slope, water source and pump all move them. Send us your crop, acres and pump details and we’ll confirm the sizing before you commit.

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Where these numbers come from

  • PJTSAU (opens in a new tab)

    Telangana’s state agricultural university — the package of practices crop spacings in the state follow.

  • TNAU Agritech Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Crop-wise spacing, water requirement and drip layout references for southern India.

  • ICAR (opens in a new tab)

    Indian Council of Agricultural Research — crop agronomy and regional package-of-practices.

  • Telangana Micro Irrigation Project (opens in a new tab)

    The state scheme’s guidelines: which crops go on inline drip, online drip or sprinklers, and the spacings it funds.

  • FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56 (opens in a new tab)

    The reference method for crop evapotranspiration and crop coefficients that daily water figures derive from.