Question

Given below are two statements:

Statement (I): Water storage efficiency becomes important when water supplies are limited or when excessive time is required to secure adequate penetration of water into the soil.

Statement (II): Water application efficiency decreases as the amount of water applied during each irrigation increases.

In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below.

• A. Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are correct.
• B. Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are incorrect.
• C. Statement (I) is correct but Statement (II) is incorrect.
• D. Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.

Hint:

Think about what happens to the wasted water (deep percolation and runoff) as the applied depth per irrigation grows larger.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Think of these two statements in terms of a simple water balance at the field rather than by quoting definitions.
Step 2: When water is scarce, or the soil takes a long time to let water soak all the way into the root zone, every drop that gets properly stored in the root zone matters a lot, which is exactly why storage efficiency becomes a critical number to track in those conditions. Statement (I) is simply restating this practical concern, so it holds up.
Step 3: Now imagine gradually turning up how much water is applied in a single irrigation. At first the extra water helps fill the root zone, but past a certain point any additional water has nowhere useful to go, it either sinks below the roots or runs off the field. So the ratio of useful water stored to total water applied, which is the application efficiency, keeps shrinking the more water is put in per irrigation. Statement (II) describes exactly this diminishing returns pattern, so it also holds up.
Step 4: Since both descriptions match how these efficiencies actually behave in the field, neither statement can be dismissed.\[\boxed{\text{Both Statement (I) and Statement (II) are correct}}\]