LAUSR

Water shortage and global water demand in arid and semi‐arid countries are continuously increasing, and therefore the agricultural sector is under critical pressure. Sustainable water management is a crucial issue and needs detailed investigation. Lysimeter measurement and nuclear techniques have been used to improve water management, saving water by reducing loss components which are not used by the plants and thus enhance water productivity (WP). Two experimental sites were selected at Nashabieh and Serghaya in the Damascus Basin (Syria). Monitoring of soil water content, evaporation and deep percolation measurements were carried out. The results showed that the measured deep percolation in a maize field (Nashabieh) formed 20% of the applied drip irrigation. On average, volumetric water content increased with depth from 30 to 37% in the apple orchard field under drip irrigation (Serghaya). Water component distribution reveals that 10–20% of water can be saved and used to enhance WP. The computed WP of maize crop was 1.4 kg m⁻³. Thus the surface drip irrigation method increases WP significantly. Consequently, the application of this irrigation method at the farm scale is highly recommended. Finally, these results may help to develop better agricultural water management strategies, increase agriculture productivity, and consequently improve WP. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.