European Borage ( Borago officinalis L.) Yield and Profitability under Different Irrigation Systems

Ali Reza Seifzadeh, Mohammad Reza Khaledian, Mohsen Zavareh, Parisha Shahinrokhsar and Christos A. Damalas
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Ali Reza Seifzadeh: Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Guilan, Rasht 41635-1314, Iran
Mohammad Reza Khaledian: Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Guilan, Rasht 41635-1314, Iran
Mohsen Zavareh: Department of Agronomy & Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Guilan, Rasht 41635-1314, Iran
Parisha Shahinrokhsar: Agricultural Engineering Research Department, Guilan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Rasht 41635-3394, Iran
Christos A. Damalas: Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, GR-68200 Orestiada, Greece

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: European borage ( Borago officinalis L.) is a cultivated medicinal plant in Iran, but common agronomic practices about profitable cultivation are mostly unknown. A 2-yr field experiment (2013 and 2014) was conducted in Guilan Province of northern Iran to evaluate European borage yield and profitability under irrigation with surface and drip irrigation systems. Treatments included (i) rainfed production (I0, control), (ii) single irrigation (I1) applied with surface irrigation alone and drip irrigation alone, and (iii) two irrigations (I2) applied with surface irrigation alone and drip irrigation alone. In 2013, I1 increased flower dry weight by 41.0% and seed weight by 7.1% compared with rainfed European borage, while with I2, the increases in those traits were 23.4% and 0.6%, respectively. In 2014, I1 increased flower dry weight by 78.0% and seed weight by 21.3% compared with rainfed European borage, while the respective increases were 51.8% and 17.3% with I2. On average, drip irrigation provided higher flower dry weight and seed weight by 39.3% and 12.6%, respectively, compared with surface irrigation. Drip irrigation increased variable costs by 165.2% compared with surface irrigation but resulted in increased gross income by 23.2%. Partial budgeting showed that I1 with drip irrigation provided the maximum net profit in both years. Based on the final rate of return, investing in the treatment I1 with drip irrigation was better than investing in the other treatments. Moreover, I1 with drip irrigation showed the highest value of economic water productivity and could be considered for improving the net income of European borage farmers.

Keywords: basin irrigation; drip irrigation; medicinal plant; net income; yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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