Increasing Irrigation Water Use Efficiency Under Drip Irrigation Using Saline Water

Using saline water for irrigation of crops is a strategy for irrigation water management. In this study, the cyclic application of saline and non-saline water was investigated. Field experiments were carried out during a growing season in 2012 under drip irrigation for maize crop with nine treatments in randomized complete block design in Karaj. The treatments were based on alternative irrigation management of saline and non-saline water on three salinity levels of 0.4, 3.5 and 5.7 dS/m and freshwater application in every one, three and five saline water application (1:1, 3:1 and 5:1, respectively). The 1:1 management was better than the other managements in terms of crop yield. The results showed that while the highest wet weight yield (56.2 t ha-1) was obtained in the F treatment (irrigation with non-saline water constantly), but the highest irrigation water use efficiency based on wet weight (14.9 kg m-3) was acquired in the 3S1:1F treatment (thrice saline water (3.5 dS m-1) and once non-saline water, alternatively). Thus irrigation water use efficiency was increased in cyclic using of saline and non-saline water because of less water use in saline irrigations, despite the relative reduction of crop yield. The results indicated that the percentage of crop yield decreased by 10.3 for every 1 dS m-1 increase in salinity level of irrigation water in fixed management. In this study, the crop yield in alternative management was higher than mixing management.