Effects of coloured water pillows on yield and water productivity of eggplant^*

Abstract

In this study, the effects of black and blue coloured water pillows on eggplant yield and water productivities were investigated under greenhouse conditions in a semi-arid region of Turkey. There were five different irrigation treatments: black water pillows (BLACKWP), black mulching + drip (BLACKM + D), blue water pillows (BLUEWP), blue mulching + drip (BLUEM + D) and drip irrigation (DI) without mulching. Yield per hectare, yield per plant, number of fruits per plant, number of fruits per unit area (m 2) and seasonal water consumption were investigated. The yields in BLACKWP, BLUEWP, BLACKM + D, BLUEM + D and DI treatments were respectively measured as 104, 103, 115, 107 and 76.2 t ha −1. Seasonal water consumption of the BLACKWP and BLUEWP treatments and BLACKM + D and BLUEM + D treatments was respectively 19 and 16% less than that of DI treatment. Irrigation water productivity of the BLACKWP, BLUEWP, BLACKM + D and BLUEM + D treatments were respectively 40, 39, 44 and 40% greater than that of DI treatment. Yield of BLACKWP, BLUEWP, BLACKM + D and BLUEM + D treatments was respectively 26, 26, 34 and 29% higher than that of DI treatment. Black and blue water pillows and black and blue mulching + drip irrigations had much higher yields and water productivities than drip irrigation without mulching.

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“…For example, for the tomato crop, the exploitation of water pillows has proven to have more efficient water use by saving 52% of water compared to drip irrigation (Gerçek et al 2017;Altunlu et al 2017). As well as for eggplant, the use of colored water pillows and mulching treatments has demonstrated a decrease in the irrigation water amounts of 22% and 16%, respectively (Gerçek and Demirkaya 2020). For lettuce also, the results suggested that using plastic film mulching was interesting for increasing the biological water use efficiency .…”