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| Authors: | R.M. Stevens, J.M. Pech, G.J. Grigson |
| Keywords: | potatoes, onions, soil salinity, non-saline flushing, sprinkler, foliar uptake |
Abstract:
Saline irrigation decreases vegetable yields.
Losses under sprinkler irrigation can be greater than those with drip irrigation.
The extra loss has been attributed to foliar uptake of salts.
In 3 experiments, we investigated the effect of a short non-saline irrigation applied immediately following each saline irrigation on yields of glasshouse grown onion and potato crops.
Experiments consisted of various combinations of irrigation treatments:
- control - sprinkled with non-saline water for the whole irrigation event, (CONT)
- saline - sprinkled with saline water for the whole irrigation event, (SALT)
- saline plus flush - sprinkled with SALT water for 92.5 or 85 or 77.5% of the irrigation event and CONT water for the remainder of the irrigation event, (SALT+7.5% or 15% or 22.5%F)
- 85% saline - sprinkled with saline water containing 85% of the NaCl added to SALT treatment, (85%SALT)
In the first potato experiment, SALT+15%F with irrigation water salinity (ECi) of 4.3 dS/m had 30% higher yield than the SALT treatment with ECi 4.8 dS/m.
In the second potato experiment, SALT+15%F, ECi 3.8 dS/m, had 60% higher yield than the 85%SALT, ECi 3.8 dS/m.
In the onion experiment, the SALT+15%F, ECi 3.4 dS/m, yield was equivalent to that in the 85%SALT, ECi 3.4 dS/m.
We conclude that these results show that foliar salt uptake is causing yield loss in potatoes, but not in onions.
In potatoes under sprinkler irrigation with saline water, applying a short non-saline flush at the end of each irrigation increases yield.
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