Effects of Irrigation Method on the Growth and Yield of Eggplant

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at an experimental station of Northwest A&F University, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation in China during 2016. The experiment comprised planting eggplant in three irrigation methods, namely, conventional irrigation, fixed irrigation and alternate irrigation. The study indicated that the effect of different irrigation method on growth of eggplant was different in different growth stages. Roots activity of eggplant in the flourishing fruit stage was the greatest, followed by the seedling stage. In three growth stage, roots activity for alternate irrigation was the greatest in all treatments. The early, middle and late yield of alternate irrigation were greater than that of conventional irrigation and fixed irrigation, the early and middle yield of eggplant with fixed irrigation was greater than that of conventional irrigation, the late yield was smaller than that of conventional irrigation, the total yield of alternate irrigation in eggplant was the highest in all treatments, for 66.59 kg, which were higher than that of conventional irrigation and fixed irrigation, for 14.11% and 27.16%. The water use efficiency and water productivity of eggplant for alternate irrigation were 37.16 kg hm-2 mm-1 and 29.81 kg hm-2 mm-1, which was higher than that of fixed irrigation and conventional irrigation, 22.11%a€27.50% and 117.31%, 128.78%, respectively