Effects of quality of water and irrigation regimes on temporal changes in soil EC and yield of greenhouse-grown bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Abstract

Abstract A greenhouse experiment was conducted in Strip Split Plot design with three replications to study the response of bell pepper (cv. Taranto) to quality of irrigation water and irrigation regimes. The main treatments included good quality water (EC-0.6 dSm ). The sub-treatments, however, included three irrigation regimes (at 100, 80 and 60 percent of crop evapotranspiration(ETc)) combined with three crop growth stages (vegetative, flowering to fruit setting and harvest). As expected, the application of saline water led to a significant increase in soil EC (up to 2.468 dSm -1) causing a drop in fresh fruit yield (from 1450.5 to 1038.8 g/plant for good quality and saline water, respectively). On the other hand, the irrigation regimes were not found to affect the soil EC, but noted to greatly affect the fresh fruit yield. The highest fresh fruit yield was obtained when irrigated at 100% ETc throughout the crop growth period. Combined effects of water quality and irrigation regimes on fresh fruit yield were found to be significant