Saline water in supplemental irrigation of wheat and barley under rainfed agriculture

In the Mediterranean climate, rainfed cereal crops are planted in autumn and harvested in late spring, relying on the rains during this period for the conclusion of their cycle; the vagaries of rains, however, often put at risk the final harvest. The present research was aimed at investigating the possibility of applying supplemental irrigation to wheat and barley during their sensitive phenophases of flowering and seed formation using brackish water with salinity levels generally considered too high for its use (EC of 3-9 dS/m). Results showed the possibility of securing high yields, with mean reductions of only 21% in barley and 25% in wheat compared to the fully, fresh-water irrigated control, through the application of limited amounts of brackish water. The sustainability of the practice is presumably high, due to the limited amounts of added salts, which can be easily leached out even by a modest precipitation.