tailieunhanh - Impact of irrigation water quality, irrigation systems, irrigation rates and soil amendments on tomato production in sandy calcareous soil

Low quality water for irrigation can impose a major environmental constraint to crop productivity. Effects of water quality, irrigation system, irrigation rates, and type of amendment on the yield and quality of tomato plants were investigated during the 2 growing seasons of 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. | Research Article Turk J Agric For 34 (2010) 59-73 © TÜBİTAK doi: Impact of irrigation water quality, irrigation systems, irrigation rates and soil amendments on tomato production in sandy calcareous soil Abdulrasoul M. AL-OMRAN1, A. R. AL-HARBI2, Mahmoud A. WAHB-ALLAH2, Mahmoud NADEEM1, Ali AL-ETER1 1Soil Science Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, . Box 2460, Riyadh 11451 - SAUDI ARABIA 2Plant production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University . Box 2460, Riyadh 11451 - SAUDI ARABIA Received: Abstract: Low quality water for irrigation can impose a major environmental constraint to crop productivity. Effects of water quality, irrigation system, irrigation rates, and type of amendment on the yield and quality of tomato plants were investigated during the 2 growing seasons of 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. Two water quality treatments (fresh water with electrical conductivity (EC) of dS m–1, and saline water with EC of dS m–1), 2 drip irrigation systems (surface and subsurface), 3 irrigation rates (2, 4, and 6 L h–1) and 3 amendment types (clay deposit, and organic matter and without amendment) were applied. The results revealed that the water quality significantly affected both the yield and water use efficiency (WUE). The decreases in yields due to using low quality water were and for the first and second season, respectively. At a high irrigation rate (6 L h–1), tomato yields were higher and decreased significantly at a low irrigation rate (2 L h–1) in both seasons. When fresh water was used, the amendment type affected both the yield and WUE in both seasons. Clay deposit increased the yield by and 15% in the control treatments in the first and second season, respectively. Low quality of irrigation water significantly increased fruit pH, and significantly decreased the other 3 traits (average fruit weight, total soluble .