Impacts of Wastewater Irrigation on Growth, Yield and Salts Uptake of Barley

Abstract

Treated wastewater is promising water resource as alternative or supplementary source for fresh water to be used in agriculture specially for areas of water shortage and crops with good potential of tolerating saline water. In this study long-term irrigation with fresh and wastewater on growth and yield of seven non-local cultivars (S42IL107, BW284, BW281, G400, Scarlett, Bowman and BW290) of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) showed that (1) barley cultivars irrigated with both fresh and wastewater had in general the same growth vigor and growth nature, (2) The cultivars irrigated with wastewater gave nearly twice the yield of that irrigated with freshwater. BW290 cultivar showed the best and highest yield among the seven cultivars while S42IL107 had the weakest prostrate growth, (3) The use of wastewater in irrigation increased the nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) contents in soil profiles affecting its texture, (4) barley proved to be a salt-tolerant crop with considerable economic importance, Barley could tolerate saline water until (5µs) without any shortage in the yield of the crop, and (5) barley irrigated with both wastewater and freshwater needed nearly the same time to emergence, stem elongation, flowering and maturity and consequently, wastewater irrigation of barley is a promising water resource as alternatives for fresh water.