Abstract
A greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the response of bell pepper to quality of irrigation water and irrigation regimes. The main treatments included non-saline water (EC-0.5 dS m-1) and saline water (EC-3.5 dS m-1). The sub-treatments included three irrigation regimes (at 100, 80 and 60% of crop Evapotranspiration (ETc)) in combination with three crop growth stages (vegetative, flowering to fruit set and fruit development to harvest). Application of saline water significantly reduced marketable fresh fruit yield from 5.47 to 2.60 kg m-2. Irrigation at 80% ETc till the end of vegetative stage and at 100% ETc later significantly increased the yield (5.01 kg m-2). Irrigation with non-saline water at either 80 or 60% ETc till the end of vegetative stage and at 100% ETc later resulted in similar fresh fruit yield. Saline water irrigation at 80% ETc till the end of vegetative stage and at 100% ETc later, proved superior to all the other treatments. Use of saline water (3.5 dS m-1) for irrigation of greenhouse bell pepper resulted in an increase in soil electrical conductivity and caused a drop in the fresh fruit yield by 72% as compared to irrigation with non-saline water (0.5 dS m-1). Irrigation at 80% ETc in the vegetative stage and at 100% ETc in the other two stages (flowering to fruit set and fruit development to harvest) recorded significantly higher total (5.52 kg m-2) and marketable (5.01 kg m-2) fresh fruit yield than all the other irrigation treatments. Saline water irrigation improved fruit quality with higher TSS (10.80%), Vitamin C (228.66 mg-100g) and acidity (0.305%).
Highlights
The ever increasing demand for fresh water resources systems
Use of saline water (3.5 dS m−1) for irrigation of greenhouse bell pepper resulted in an increase in soil electrical conductivity and caused a drop in the fresh fruit yield by 72% as compared to irrigation with non-saline water (0.5 dS m−1)
Saline water use resulted in significantly higher soil Electrical Conductivity (EC) compared to non-saline water consistently throughout the crop growth period
Summary
The ever increasing demand for fresh water resources systems. There is a growing fear that acute shortage of is a global concern. Ideal alternative to traditional agriculture for meeting the Agriculture consumes about 90% of total water urgent needs of the Kingdom; the carefully-controlled consumption in the country. The agricultural crops such microclimates within greenhouses favour crop. Rubio et al (2010) reported decreased above-ground total biomass and marketable fruit yield from the saline water treatment (4.6 dS m−1) when compared to control (2.6 dS m−1) and increased water use efficiency by reducing the frequency of per day irrigation from eight to one. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of quality of irrigation water and levels of irrigation on fresh fruit yield and quality of greenhouse grown bell pepper
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