Investigation the Effect of Different Irrigation Regimes on Root Development and Water Use Efficiency on Green Pepper

Yield is a function of root distribution and activity. In flood conditions, root growth and efficiency are essential for crop productivity. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of different irrigation regimes on the root development, yield and yield components of green pepper (green Hashemi cultivars). This study, which was based on a completely randomized design with three replications under greenhouse conditions, was done at Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in 2016. Different irrigation regimes consisted of 3 levels (100, 125 and 150 percent of water requirement). The results showed that the effect of different irrigation regimes on root volume, root length, root area and number of fruit was significant at 1 percent level (P<0.01), but water use efficiency, and fresh and dry weight of fruit were significant at 5 percent level (P<0.05). The results also revealed that green pepper plants were sensitive to over irrigation. Increasing irrigation levels from 100 to 125 percent of pan evaporation resulted in the reduction of root volume, root length, water use efficiency, number of fruits, and pepper fresh weight to 20, 13.8, 26, 29and 6.4 percent, respectively. As the conclusion, with the increase in water irrigation level, the fresh weight of the fruit was significantly decreased.