Greenhouse Cultivation Feasibility Using Condensation Irrigation (Case study: Basil plant)

Desalination is one of the ways to cope with water scarcity in agriculture sector, especially in areas with saline water. The condensation irrigation as a method for irrigating with saline water and solar energy, is a combination of subsurface irrigation and simple solar distillation. In this study, a condensation irrigation with area of two square meters was developed in a greenhouse, in order to study the feasibility for meeting plant water requirement, so a humidifier with dimensions of 170×70×15 cm was made in which saline water was evaporated using a heating element. The vapor humidified the air above the salty water surface and warmed it. The air was blown into 5 two-meter-long perforated pipes buried with 20 cm intervals at deep of 8 cm. The water vapor then condensed inside the pipe wall and soil, providing the required water for the basil plants grown in the soil. The results showed that daily average of humidifier insertion into the perforated pipes was 12550 ml of water, of which 4167 ml were converted into liquid water in the soil and tubes. Also, this system with average daily irrigation of more than two millimeters was able to meet basil water requirement and production of wet and dry matter in this system was 32% and 63% more than control pots.