Deficit mulched drip irrigation improves yield, quality, and water use efficiency of watermelon in a desert oasis region

Zeyi Wang, Shouchao Yu, Hengjia Zhang, Lian Lei, Chao Liang, Lili Chen, Dandan Su and Xuan Li

Agricultural Water Management, 2023, vol. 277, issue C

Abstract: In the context of global warming, drought is a crucial factor affecting agricultural production, especially for the oasis farming areas of northwestern China, where water resources are extremely scarce. To reveal the response of watermelon water consumption (WC), yield, quality, and water use efficiency (WUE) to water deficit (WD) and to determine the optimal mode of irrigation in the desert oasis areas of Hexi, we applied different WD treatments on a field oasis watermelon in 2020 and 2021. The experiments employed two gradients of light (l) and moderate (m) WD treatments during the seedling (S), vine (V), expansion (E), and maturity (M) stages except for flowering and fruiting (F) stage, with full irrigation during the entire growth period as the control (CK). The results showed that the WC of oasis watermelon at each growth stage was in the order: E > V > S > M > F, in which WC by E stage accounted for 33.15–40.33%. Compared with the CK, WD had an obvious effect on water saving, and WD during the V or E stages inhibited the growth of vine leaves to a certain extent. The Sl treatment (light WD during S stage) had the highest yield and WUE, with significant increases of 5.23–5.38% and 7.10–7.37% (p < 0.05), respectively, in the two years, while the Mm treatment (moderate WD during the M stage) resulted in the best overall nutritional quality of watermelon, with soluble solids, soluble sugars, vitamin C, and soluble protein contents increasing by 11.31%, 33.43%, 24.03%, and 10.31% (p < 0.05), respectively. However, an integrated evaluation that coupled grey relation analysis (GRA) with a technique for determining order preference by its similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) model, considering growth, yield, quality, and efficiency indicators, concluded that the Ml treatment (light WD during the M stage) achieved the highest comprehensive score, followed by the Sl treatment. Therefore, it is recommended that the optimal deficit irrigation mode for oasis watermelon is the Ml treatment, which can balance water savings, yields, and quality improvements, while the Sl treatment can be considered as a backup mode. This study provides theoretical and technical support for achieving efficient water-saving cultivation and scale development of watermelon production in desert oasis areas.

Keywords: Deficit irrigation; Sub-membrane drip irrigation; Water consumption; Yield; Fruit quality; Oasis watermelon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377422006503
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:277:y:2023:i:c:s0378377422006503

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2022.108103

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().