Effect of marginal quality water on Okra, Abelmoschus Esculentus l. Yield under drip irrigation system

Kamran Bukhsh Soomro¹, Hakim Ali Sahito^2*, Javaid Akhtar Rind¹, Bhugro Mal¹ and Sakhawat Hussain Kaleri³

¹KB, Rind JA and Mal B, (SSOs) CARS, SARC, PARC, Karachi.

²(PhD) Entomology, SAU, Tandojam -Sindh

³Research Fellow (ARI) Tandojam- Sindh

Corresponding author Email: hakimsahito@yahoo.com

Accepted 16 August 2012

Abstract

The research study was conducted at Coastal Agricultural Research Station of PARC, Karachi. In order to see the effects of marginal quality ground water in comparison to good quality water (tap water) on crop yield and water use efficiency. Okra was grown under drip system of irrigation during the year, 2011. The soil characteristics, soil samples at depth of 0-15, 15-30 and 30-60 cm were drawn and analyzed in laboratory for various parameters. The results indicated that the soil under study was sandy loam in texture, having the DBD 1.59 gm/cm³, infiltration rate 1.56 cm/hr, F.C, W.P and A.M was 14.8, 6.2 and 8.6%, respectively. Before crop sowing, drip irrigation system was installed to assess for its performance through Uniformity Co-efficient which ranged from 93 to 96% and indicated that the system was working satisfactorily. The quantity of tap and ground water applied through drip system to okra crop was of equal volume i.e., 6989.7m3/ha. However, higher crop yield and higher water use efficiency i.e., 18.93 t/ha and 2.7kg/m3 were recorded under T1 over T2 (yield 17.0t/ha and water use efficiency 2.4kg/m3) respectively. The increase of yield and WUE in T1 over T2 was about 10% in each case. Thus, it was inferred that okra crop can be grown successfully on sandy loam using saline (Marginal quality) ground water for irrigation. Keeping in view the above results obtained under this study, the farming community of the coastal area should be made well aware of the use of saline ground water for vegetable cultivation. However, more research should also be conducted on the use of saline ground water for the cultivation of winter and summer vegetable crops and fruit orchards in the coastal belts of Sindh and Balochistan so that the local people of these area could get benefits from such research.

Keywords: Drip irrigation, Okra yield and Net profit.