Implications of different irrigation water qualities on crop production: A case study of Sharkia Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Water Resources Research Institute (WMRI), National Water Research Center (NWRC), Shoubra El-Kheima, Al-Qalyubia, Egypt.

2 Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

This work aims to study the invasion of environmental pollutants from the irrigation water to the soil. To achieve this goal, three irrigated areas (at the same Zane) were selected. The first area is irrigated with fresh water; the second is irrigated with mixed water while the third is irrigated with drainage water. The three areas are exposed to the same climatic conditions. The crop pattern is similar for the three areas under study. The study was extended to two cultivated seasons, summer season (maize crop) and winter season (wheat crop). The farm management, which includes fertilizer application and their doses, pesticides broadcasting, is the same for the three of area study. The results of the study indicate that the fresh and mixed water were suitable for irrigating the different crops while the drainage water was suitable for irrigation of salt tolerant and semi tolerant crops only. They also indicate that all trace metals and nutrients were within the allowable limits except cadmium and copper. The average of total and fecal coli form in the different irrigation water qualities violated the recommended maximum limits and polluted these resources. The leaching process of salts took place for the different soils irrigated with the irrigation water of different qualities. The correlation values between the pollutants of irrigation water of different qualities with those of soil were significant for some parameters, while the correlation values were not significant for others. The correlations between the pollutants of irrigation water and those of plant differed from pollutant to another; there was no clear trend for the leaching of the studied pollutants with the irrigation water. The invasion of the different studied pollutants to the soil differed from one pollutant to another according to the solubility of pollutant in water, its concentrations, its importance to plant and the up taking rate and its movement to the drains with the drained water. The use of mixed or drainage water in irrigation causes a lack of productivity as well as increased crop water requirements. Elongation period between irrigations or adding small amount of irrigation water in each time would reduce crop productivity.
 

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