Effects of Irrigation with Saline Water on Crop Growth and Yield in Greenhouse Cultivation

Hakkwan Kim,Hanseok Jeong,Seungjong Bae,Jihye Jeon

doi:10.3390/w8040127

Hakkwan Kim, Hanseok Jeong + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/w8040127

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Abstract

Since the salinity of irrigation water is a critical constraint to the production of certain vegetable crops, salinity has been considered as one of the most important factors of irrigation water. The objective of this study was to investigate the response of lettuce and Chinese cabbage to various salinity levels of irrigation water in greenhouse cultivation. A pot experiment was conducted with different salinities under a glasshouse condition in Korea. A completely randomized experimental design was used with three replications. The analysis results of crop growth and yield of lettuce and Chinese cabbage indicated that the factors that were more significantly affected by saline irrigation water were crop yields rather than crop components such as number of leaves, leaf length, and leaf width. In this study, the point of salt concentration during an increase in salinity levels of irrigation water (ECw) at which yield starts to decline was determined to be 0.9 and 1.5 dS/m for lettuce and Chinese cabbage, respectively. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that the continuous irrigation of saline water under greenhouse conditions could lead to a significant increase in electric conductivity (ECe) level and Na+ concentration in soil, as well as Na+ concentration in leaves of crops.

Highlights

Greenhouse cultivation is a widely used farming system to provide a controlled environment suitable for optimal crop production [1]
The responses of vegetables irrigated with water of different salinity levels were investigated under greenhouse conditions
The analysis results of crop growth components and yields of lettuce and Chinese cabbage demonstrated that the factors that were more significantly affected by saline irrigation water were crop yields rather than crop components such as number of leaves, leaf length, and leaf width

Summary

Introduction

Greenhouse cultivation is a widely used farming system to provide a controlled environment suitable for optimal crop production [1]. For this reason, greenhouse crop production is a steadily growing agricultural sector throughout the world with an estimated 405,000 ha of greenhouses spread all over the world [2]. The Korean government is planning on constructing 5185 ha of new greenhouses for growing horticultural crops including vegetable crops in the reclaimed land. Saline water can be used for irrigation due to the absence or limited supply of fresh water. The groundwater used for irrigating greenhouses near the coastal areas is frequently saline [4]

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