Investigation the Effect of Irrigation Levels on Peppermint Yield and Water Productivity under Salinity Stress

This research was conducted to study the effect of deficit irrigation and saline water on yield and yield components of Peppermint in the experimental research greenhouse of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad from 2018 to 2019. This research was performed as a factorial experiment based on the randomized complete design with three replications. In this research, irrigation levels consist of 4 levels (100 (I1), 80 (I2), 70 (I3), and 55 (I4) percent of FC) and saline water factors consist of 4 levels (0.9 (EC1), 1.9 (EC2), 2.5 (EC3), and 3.4 dSm-1 (EC4)). The result showed that a decrease of the water to 15, 30, and 45 percent have resulted in the reduction of shoot fresh weights (to 15.8, 28.4, and 30.1 percent), shoot dry weights (to 7.1, 11.5, and 11.5 percent), and root dry weights (to 4.6, 9.2, and 9.2 percent), respectively. Also, results showed that irrigation with EC2, EC3, and EC4 has resulted in a decrease in shoot fresh weights (to 12.7, 28.5, and 34.0 percent), shoot dry weights (to 3.6, 11.6, and 11.6 percent), and root dry weights (to 6.7, 12.4, and 14.6 percent), respectively. The result indicated that interaction effects of salinity and water stress decreased peppermint water productivity, as the highest and lowest peppermint water productivity with 3.54 and 2.06 Kgm-3 were in the EC1I4 and EC3I1 treatments, respectively. Results revoluted that maximum dry yield and peppermint water productivity were in the EC1I4, so this treatment was recommended for irrigation of peppermint.