Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9467311 | Agricultural Water Management | 2005 | 12 Pages |
Abstract
Brackish water (7Â dSÂ mâ1) is frequently utilized to drip-irrigate crops in the Negev desert of Israel, the practice being to use deep sandy soils (96% sand) to avoid soil salinization. When muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.), a moderately salt-sensitive crop species, was grown using brackish irrigation under these conditions, yields declined due to a significant reduction in fruit size, but fruit quality parameters improved markedly. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the use of fresh irrigation water during the early vegetative phase would increase canopy size and leaf area index (LAI) and hence the potential productivity of the melon plant. The application of brackish water during the reproductive phase, on the other hand, would improve fruit quality. Using multiple irrigations within a 24-h period, applied with drip irrigation, we examined the timing, the duration, and the concentration of brackish irrigation water as tools to optimize fruit yield and quality in late-summer melons. Indeed, the combination of fresh (1.2Â dSÂ mâ1) and brackish (7Â dSÂ mâ1) irrigation water increased the yield level to that of fresh water plants whereas it brought about the improvement of fruit quality typical to brackish water plants, thus providing an attractive approach to optimize late-summer melon production. Our results demonstrate the trade-off between fruit size and fruit quality as related to the timing and the duration of brackish irrigation water. The use of a milder (<4.5Â dSÂ mâ1) salinity level of irrigation water from plant emergence until harvest may be considered as well.
Keywords
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Agronomy and Crop Science
Authors
Amnon Bustan, Shabtai Cohen, Yoel De Malach, Philip Zimmermann, Rami Golan, Moshe Sagi, Dov Pasternak,