Effects of Different Irrigation Methods on Water Productivity, Yield, and Its Components in Spinach under Climatic Conditions of Ahvaz

Due to the increasing growth of population and changes in lifestyle, the pressure on water and soil resources has increased, thus, proper management of these resources has vital importance. This research was conducted with the aim of evaluating and comparing the effects of furrow, surface, and subsurface drip irrigation on water productivity, yield, and yield components of spinach in arid and semi-arid climatic conditions of Ahvaz. For this purpose, an experiment in the form of randomized complete blocks with three treatments of irrigation methods including furrow irrigation (FI), surface drip irrigation (SDI) and subsurface drip irrigation (SSDI) was done in three replications in the research farm of the Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, in 2021. According to the results, the amount of irrigation water used in the FI treatment was 1066 m3/ha and in the SDI and SSDI it was 787 m3/ha, which showed a decrease of 26.17%. In FI, SDI, and SSDI, the average yield of spinach plant (total fresh weight of leaves and stems) was equal to 23.56, 30.17 and 19.28 g and irrigation water productivity was 0.353, 0.613 and 0.392 kg/m3, respectively. In both yield and irrigation water productivity, the SDI treatment had a significant advantage at 5% level compared to the other two treatments. The effects of irrigation treatment on the characteristics of root length, stem length, total length, number of leaves, number of fresh leaves, leaf chlorophyll content and harvest index were not significant. Generally, considering water productivity as criterion, surface drip irrigation is more suitable than furrow irrigation for spinach cultivation.