Water Productivity of Cucumber under Different Covers of Greenhouses Using Drip Irrigation System

Amel Ahmed El Mamoun; Adam Bush Adam; Sirelkhatim K. Abbouda; Sahar Gaafar Ahmed; Nasreddin Idris Mourad; Omer Almahi Mohamed

Volume : IX, Issue : V, May - 2019

Water Productivity of Cucumber under Different Covers of Greenhouses Using Drip Irrigation System

Amel Ahmed El Mamoun, Adam Bush Adam, Sirelkhatim K. Abbouda, Sahar Gaafar Ahmed, Nasreddin Idris Mourad, Omer Almahi Mohamed

Abstract :

The objective of this study was to evaluate water productivity of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under different covers of greenhouses using drip irrigation system. The experiments were carried out at the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum – Shambat, Sudan (32⁰ 51 ̀ E, 15⁰ 65 ̀ N and 380 m above mean sea level) during the summer season of 2018. Greenhouses were designed and installed to accommodate different treatments namely; double–layers of polyethylene with 9cm air gap (D–PE), single–layer of polyethylene (S–PE), and single–layer of polyethylene with green net with 50% opening (S–PE+N). These treatments were arranged in randomized completely block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Crop water requirement was determined using CROPWAT version 8 computer model. 100% of ETc was applied using drip irrigation system. Increasing crop evapotranspiration was due to change in weather parameters inside the greenhouses. The parameters tested were the hydraulic characteristics of the irrigation system which were Christiansen’s coefficient of uniformity (Cu%), emission uniformity (Eu%) and scheduling uniformity (Su) and water productivity (kg/m3). A computer program (SAS statistical package) was used to analyze the data while the variations among the means were checked by the Least Significant Difference (LSD). The results showed that, average hydraulic performance of drip irrigation system was fallen below the recommended values (Cu 80%, Eu 76% and Su 1.4). Greenhouse covers significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected the water productivity. S–PE increased the water productivity of cucumber (21.3 kg/m3) followed by D–PE (19.77 kg/m3) and S–PE+N (15.8 kg/m3). The reduction in water productivity was attributed to the excessive quantities of water applied by drip irrigation system which recorded lower values of hydraulic performance as compared with the recommended values. It is concluded that selection of more suitable greenhouse cover under local climate conditions as well as managing water, irrigation scheduling and reduced crop’s diseases were the main factors affecting water productivity.