Effect of Deficit Irrigation on Yield, Water Productivity, Energy Indices and Economic Productivity in Eggplant Cultivation

Abstract

The decrease in water potential with increasing population and global warming requires efficient and sustainable management of water resources. Agricultural water management should provide a sufficient profit to the producers and also meet demands of the growing human population. In this study, water deficit was applied by drip irrigation method to determine the optimum water requirement of eggplant plant, which is a sensitive crop to water deficit. The study was carried out between 2015 and 2017 growing seasons. The effects of deficit irrigation treatments on yield, yield response factor, water efficiency, irrigation water efficiency and economic water efficiency of eggplant plants were investigated. The irrigation treatments were full irrigation (I1: 100%), three deficit irrigations which were 75% (I2: I1 x 75%), 50% (I3: I1 x 50%), and 25% (I4: I1 x 25%) of full irrigation and precipitation based production (I5). All treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design and repeated three times. The eggplant yield between deficit irrigation treatments was significantly (P < 0.01) different. Yield response factor (ky: 1, 22) indicated that economic water productivity of eggplant was statistically similar in I1, I2 and I3 treatments. The amount of energy consumed per unit area revealed that the I3 treatment can be recommended in eggplant production for the study area. Therefore, the economic efficiency (net income per unit area) and the amount of consumed energy should be taken into account along with the productivity in crop production.