Integrating partial root-zone drying and saline water irrigation to sustain sunflower production in freshwater-scarce regions

Moazam Khaleghi, Farzad Hassanpour, Fatemeh Karandish*, Ali Shahnazari

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
60 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Applying saline water resources for irrigating croplands requires serious attentions when sustainable agriculture is considered. A two-year field investigation was carried out in a drip-irrigated sunflower field under six irrigation treatments, including (i) full freshwater irrigation (FI), full irrigation with diluted seawater (DS) (SI), alternate DS-freshwater irrigation (FSI), freshwater-PRD (partial root-zone drying) irrigation with 25 % less water than full (PRD 1), DS-PRD irrigation with 25 % less water than full (PRD 2), alternate DS-freshwater irrigation under PRD with 25 % less water than full (PRD 3), in three replicates. Compared to the FI treatment, crop yield was reduced by 3.1–32 %, with the lowest one under PRD 1. Among the DS treatments, PRD 3, resulted in the highest grain yield (4306 kg ha −1), grain nitrogen content (2.83 %), oil yield (1907 kg ha −1) and irrigation water productivity (1.10). PRD 3 also saved freshwater by 20 %, and kept soil salinity of the rooting-zone below the maximum crop tolerance threshold. Based on the results, PRD 3 might be a cost-effective pathway which guarantees the sustainable application of diluted seawater in the irrigated sunflower lands.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106094
Pages (from-to)106094
JournalAgricultural water management
Volume234
Early online date4 Mar 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2020

Keywords

  • Diluted seawater
  • Irrigation water productivity
  • Partial root-zone drying
  • Salt accumulation
  • Sunflower production
  • UT-Hybrid-D

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