Effect of water irrigation salinity on some morphological characters, yield and water use efficiency of blue panic grass (Panicum antidotale Retz.)

Due to lack of sufficient information about the possibility of producing blue panic grass in the central region of Iran, this study was conducted at Rudasht Research Farm of Isfahan to evaluate the yield and irrigation water use efficiency of blue panic grass. Different quality of water with average electrical conductivity of 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS/m were used in a randomized complete block design with three replications, in 2010 cropping season. The results showed that increasing the electrical conductivity of irrigation water from the 5 to 30 dS/m reduced the height of plant 16 percent. With raising the electrical conductivity of irrigation water from 5 to 10, 20 and 30 dS/m dS/m salinity lead to a decrease of about 4, 6 and 5 fertile tillers per plant respectively. Plant dry matter yield at first and second harvest also was significantly (P<0.05) under the influence of salinity. Salinity treatments of 5 and 10 dS/m produced maximum dry matter yield and 20 and 30 dS/m caused 38 and 41 percent dry matter reduction, respectively. Also using each cubic meter of irrigation water with electrical conductivity 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS/m produced 1293, 1291, 801 and 762 g/m2 at the first harvest and following it 2850, 2910, 1760 and 1730 g/m2 at the second harvest, respectively. In general, it seems that to the average performance of approximately 11 tons of dry matter per hectare in high salinity conditions, establishes biosaline production system of blue panicgrass is possible.