Growth, Yield, and Water Productivity Responses of Pepper to Sub-Irrigated Planter Systems in a Greenhouse

Marjan Vahabi Mashhor,Hamed Ebrahimian,Maryam Veravipour,Mahmoud Mashal,Seyyed Ebrahim Hashemi Garmdareh,Maria Teresa Lao,Juan Reca

doi:10.3390/su12031100

Marjan Vahabi Mashhor, Hamed Ebrahimian + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031100

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 4, 2020
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Tehran, University of Almería

Abstract

A sub-irrigated planter (SIP) is a container irrigation technique in which water is supplied to the crop from the bottom, stored in a saturated media-filled reservoir beneath an unsaturated soil, and then delivered by capillary action to the root zone. The aim of this study was to optimize the water management and to assess the performance of this technique in terms of water use efficiency, soil moisture, and solute distribution in comparison with surface irrigation in a Mediterranean greenhouse. The experiment consisted of four SIP treatments, with a constant water level in the bottom reservoir in order to evaluate the effect of two different irrigation salinities (1.2 and 2.2 dS m−1) and two depths of substrate profiles (25 and 15 cm). The results showed that SIP is capable of significantly improving both water-use efficiency and plant productivity compared with surface irrigation. Also, a 24% average reduction in water consumption was observed while using SIP. Moreover, SIPs with a higher depth were recommended as the optimum treatments within SIPs. The type of irrigation method affected the salinity distribution in the substrate profile; the highest salinity levels were registered at the top layers in SIPs, whereas the maximum salinity levels for the surface treatments were observed at the bottom layers. SIPs provide a practical solution for the irrigation of plants in areas facing water quality and scarcity problems.

Highlights

In terms of addressing the global water shortage in agriculture, which accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals [1], subsurface irrigation currently represents the most efficient irrigation technique in providing water to plants [2,3]
It has been found that the hotness of the hot pepper plant increased using the negative pressure capillary irrigation technique, in comparison with surface irrigation, and water consumption was reduced by 35%
Fresh water scarcity will be one of the most challenging issues in agriculture, which drives irrigation specialists to promote effective and practical irrigation methods to be used in both urban and industrial greenhouses. From this point of view, the present study evaluated the performance of sub-irrigated planters—a new promising irrigation system in terms of water conservation and plant productivity

Summary

Introduction

In terms of addressing the global water shortage in agriculture, which accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals [1], subsurface irrigation currently represents the most efficient irrigation technique in providing water to plants [2,3]. Larger portions of the world’s agricultural production have adopted “sub-irrigated container” systems [5] in order to improve on the efficiency of traditional in-ground subsurface systems, and to address climate change, water shortage, and saline water resources [6]. These techniques consist of producing ornamental and agricultural crops in pots using subsurface irrigation systems [7]. Containerized planting helps reduce water consumption more than in-ground subsurface systems, as it maintains the water in the soil profile in the pot In this method, soil contamination issues are solved [8]. The negative pressure technique offers precise water delivery, which can be suitable for greenhouse planting in areas with a limited water supply [10]

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