The effect of saline irrigation water on the yield of pepper: experimental and modelling study

The present study investigates the impact of using saline water on pepper crop yield and the application of a numerical model in predicting soil moisture and relative yield under saline irrigation conditions. In the greenhouse experimental study conducted in Antalya, Turkey, the effects of different irrigation regimes with salinity treatments using a drip irrigation system were investigated for two pepper varieties. The irrigation regimes consisted of four irrigation treatments with four salinity levels in two cropping seasons—spring 2011 and autumn 2011. The numerical model SALTMED was used and calibrated using measured soil moisture of a control experiment run during spring 2011. After the calibration, the model was validated using other experimental treatments during spring 2011 and all the experimental treatments in autumn 2011, with appropriate salinity stress parameter π50 values which are calibrated versus the highest salinity treatments in the spring 2011 and autumn 2011 experiments. The predicted results show the ability of the model to reproduce the measured soil moisture at three soil layers 0–20, 20–40 and 40–60 cm. The predicted relative yield results are in good agreement with measured data. Although the numerical model SALTMED has been used in several studies in the past, this is the first study that illustrates the potential capacity of the model for use in managing greenhouse production.