Condensation irrigation perspective on improving water productivity

Water is a major factor in food production and sustainability of ecosystems. The need for water resources is increasing. Due to the scarcity of water and also aridity in many regions, development of new technologies to meet the plant water needs is important at plant establishment and specifically at the development stage. Development of new technologies is a key for solving the problem of water shortage. Steam condensation in soil (using renewable energies) is a new and developing method that has the potential of increasing water efficiency. In this method, the steam transfers directly to the root zone and increases the moisture content of the soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of evaporation-condensation irrigation system in increasing water use productivity and evaluating performance of this technology in moisture absorption of various soils improved using organic matter. In order to increase water condensation, the produced steam, conveyed into steam chambers and after distillation, it increases the moisture content of the soil. In this study, a number of experiments were conducted on small flumes. Results showed that the moisture condensation of the soil with organic matter 11% higher than that of soil without organic matter. Then, with the possibility of increasing the moisture with this method, the experiments were carried out in larger pots. The result of analysis of variance of soil texture, steam temperature and organic matter interactions showed that these three parameters had no significant effect on soil moisture increase. Based on the results, the soil with medium texture, 35% organic matter and steam at 45 °C in coated conducting tube showed better results than other treatments. The steam blown into vapor tubes in flume and pots was at two temperatures of 45 and 55 °C that 30°C was selected for planting. After determining the proper temperature and selecting soil texture, plant cultivation was carried out by evaporation-condensation irrigation method. Then the water consumption was compared with greenhouse and field planting. Selected soil for cultivating lettuce under controlled conditions and with evaporation-condensation irrigation, was designated to be medium and in combination with 35% organic matter and coated conducting tube at steam temperature of 30°C. The results of this study showed that after harvesting and full growth of lettuce in all three conditions, production per 1 m3 of water for lettuce in evaporation-condensation irrigation, greenhouse and field was 1250, 333 and 75.5 kilograms, respectively. Water use efficiency was investigated in all treatments and the results showed that there is a significant difference between different irrigation methods (P≼0.01), and the highest water use efficiency resulted from evaporation-condensation irrigation method. The consumed water during the growing period in the greenhouse was approximately 4 times that of evaporation-condensation irrigation method and in the field was about 21 times that of condensation irrigation, which indicates a significant reduction in water use. By examining dry matter the weight of lettuce in all three methods, the results showed that in all samples taken from condensation irrigation, greenhouse and field, the average dry matter was 12.5% and average water was 87.5%, which indicated the same quality of the product in all three methods.