Area determination of solar desalination system for irrigating crops in greenhouses using different quality feed water

Ahmed F. Mashaly, A.A. Alazba, A.M. Al-Awaadh and Mohamed A. Mattar

Agricultural Water Management, 2015, vol. 154, issue C, 1-10

Abstract: The aim of this study was to present an alternative means of procuring fresh water from low-quality water sources to meet crop-water requirements (CWR) in greenhouses. A solar still was used in field experiments to desalinate three types of water: seawater, ground water and agricultural-drainage water. Three multiple linear regression models were derived, with an average coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.90 for the prediction of water-productivity capacity (MD). Two methods were used to estimate the CWR of greenhouses: the adapted Penman-Monteith (A-PM) method and the Fernandez (F) method. The R2 for the two methods was 0.95. The three water-productivity measurements were compared with the water requirements throughout the year to determine the required area of the solar-desalination system. The results indicated that the A-PM method can be used to estimate the CWR of crops grown in greenhouses. Generally, MD exceeded CWR throughout the year, and the average MD of the water types was 4.79L/m2/day. In addition, the average CWR values obtained using the A-PM and F methods were identical (1.88L/m2/day). The water produced by 1m2 of the solar-still system was also found to meet the CWR of about 2m2 of greenhouse. As the system's MD exceeds the CWR of a greenhouse, the proposed solar-desalination system is clearly able to meet greenhouse CWR.

Keywords: Crop-water requirements; Greenhouses; Solar-still area; Penman-Monteith method; Fernandez method; Productivity capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:154:y:2015:i:c:p:1-10

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2015.02.009

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