Interactive Effect of Deficit Irrigation and Water Quality on Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Red Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitate L.) under Drip Irrigation

Abstract

Deficit irrigation is emerging as a promising management practice to reduce water use with marginal loss in crop yield. Further, limited studies are available on the combined effect of water deficit and water quality on the water use efficiency of leafy vegetables like red cabbage in the semi-arid climate of Kirkuk. Therefore, this study was initiated to unveil the combined effect of varying deficit irrigation levels (0.5, 0.75, 1, and 1.2 of full irrigation) and two types of water quality (fresh and saline water) on water use efficiency of red cabbage under drip irrigation with two types of emitters. The results indicated that there is a steady increase in fruit yield with an increase in the level of irrigation with saline water over the entire range of applied water. The highest water efficiency was achieved under the combined effect of fresh water and GR and Turbo emitter when the level of applied water at full irrigation was reduced by a factor of 0.5 (20.31 kg/m3)(21.96kg/m3) respectively Furthermore, crop response factor analysis revealed that the red cabbage can tolerate deficit irrigation and produce satisfactory under both fresh and saline water were GR emitter with fresh and saline water given best value (0.627) (0.703) compeer with Turbo emitter with fresh and saline water given (0.292)(0.566)respectively. Additionally, further research is proposed to study the water productivity of red cabbage with saline water and take into account the yield of the same piece of land when the experiment is repeated for several years.