Effects of deficit irrigation on yield and water use of greenhouse grown cucumber in the North China Plain

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Abstract

This study examines deficit irrigation on greenhouse grown cucumber in the North China Plain (NCP). The level of fulfillment of water requirements was used as a gauge to differentiate five border irrigation treatments. Fresh fruit yields were highly influenced by the total volume of irrigation water at every growth stage. The treatment with minimum irrigation water applied had the lowest productions. The mathematical functions that better fit for the production obtained with the water volume received were linearism, but the functions of evapotranspiration (ET) and yield were second-degree polynomials. The water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) decreased with the increase of irrigation water applied from stem fruiting to the end, significantly since harvest of zenith fruits. But WUE and IWUE were ascending with the increase of irrigation water from cucumber field setting to first fruit ripening. Well irrigation along the whole cycle was a clearly advisable irrigation regime. On the other hand, the least advisable regimes were those that lead to deficiencies from harvest of the first fruit to the zenith fruits. But we strongly recommend actions be taken to limit the inefficient soil evaporation that resulted from higher temperature at the last growth stages in order to improve WUE and IWUE.

Introduction

Water is becoming one of the scarcest natural resources in North China Plain (NCP), one of the most important agricultural regions in China. Water shortage limits the economy development in the region, where there is no reliable surface water resources for irrigation. More than 80% of water resources have been exploited for irrigation (Liu and Wei, 1989, Zhang et al., 1999, Wang et al., 2001). The use of groundwater has caused the regional groundwater table to drop significantly and created many environmental problems (Liu and He, 1996, Wang et al., 2001). To cope with the water shortage, it is necessary to adopt water-saving agriculture countermeasures. Efficient use of water by irrigation is becoming increasingly important. Irrigation scheduling is very important to water saving. From previous studies, we have developed a fairly good knowledge of the influences that control irrigation regimes on grain crops and trees (Miller and Martin, 1987, Olufayo et al., 1996, Zhang et al., 1999, Zhang et al., 2001, Oweis et al., 2000, Pandey et al., 2000, Motilva et al., 2000, Li et al., 2001, Fabeiro et al., 2001). But there is still a need to enhance the studies of deficit irrigation on vegetables. Although some papers dealt with water requirement of vegetables, most of them focused on the varieties (Chartzoulakis and Drosos, 1995, Mendezr, 1987, Mannini and Gallina, 1996) which could stand greater drought.

Cucumber is one of the most popular greenhouse vegetables in NCP. It needs more water than normal grain crops (Li et al., 2000) and local farmers relied on their experiences to irrigate cucumber. The rapid development of greenhouse vegetable planting over recent years would increase water scarcity in NCP. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effects of different irrigation levels on the yield, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) at different growth stages in unheated greenhouse grown cucumber and clarify cucumber irrigation schedule.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The field experiment was conducted at Nanpi Agricultural Experimental Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences (38°06′N and 116°40′E and altitude 8 m above sea level), Hebei Province, China. The climate is warm temperate monsoon, with a cold-dry winter and a hot-humid summer. Average annual air temperature is 12.4 °C and average monthly lowest temperature is −6.1 °C. In winter vegetables must be planted in a greenhouse. The average annual groundwater table was 3 m and irrigated water resource was

Responds of yield to water stress

Cucumbers have moderately deep roots and long taproots as well as shallow fibrous root systems but do not seem to be as extensive as others in this family. Most of the fibrous feeders are in the top 60 cm and the active roots are concentrated between 20 and 30 cm. And cucumber is a quick growing crop that produces a lot of succulent growth (Gao, 1994). The crop must be supplied with plenty of moisture for its vigorous growth. Irrigation is important for its plant and fruit growth. At different

Conclusions

Cucumbers grown in irrigated greenhouses in the NCP showed good production responses. This paper enables us to infer that yield is considerably higher when cucumber receives a total quantity of water of 6500–7500 m3 ha−1.

The experiment carried out did not enable us to know what response would have been if irrigation above 7500 m3 ha−1, but the fresh yields did decrease when irrigation received only 2400 m3 ha−1. These results showed that moderate irrigation was essential.

The analysis of water applied

Acknowledgements

The Chinese Academy of Sciences project (KXCX-SW-317-02) and the Hebei provincial project (01220703D), China, supported this research. The authors wish to thank Professor Dengshun Li, Shijiazhuang Institute of Agricultural Modernization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, for his help on data collection. And in particularly, the authors greatly appreciate Jane DARGAVILLE, journalist and editor of Canberra News, Australia, for her revises to the paper.

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