Impacts of water quality of plug production of gaillardia, salvia, and pepper

Date

1997-12

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Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of poor quality irrigation water fi-om two different water sources on the growth of Capsicum annuum fpepper), Gaillardia x grandiflora (gaillardia), and Salvia farinacea ("salvia) in plugs, to asses the feasibility of blending poor quality water with reverse osmosis treated water (RO) to remediate the potentially damaging effects of poor quality irrigation water on plant growth, and to empirically determine the most effective ratio of RO to poor quality water for each species. The study was a 2 x 5 factorial in a split plot design and was replicated over three runs. Two poor quality water sources (WS) were blended with RO in dilutions of 100 WS: 0 RO, 75 WS: 25 RO, 50 WS: 50 RO, 25 WS: 75 RO, and 0 WS: 100 RO. Seeds of each species were sown by hand into plug trays and measured volumes of each dilution were applied by hand.

ANOVA analysis revealed that dilution of each water source significantly impacted dry weights for all three species. Pepper, a crop rated as moderately tolerant to soluble salts, generally produced more dry weight with 25 WS: 75 RO. However, visual evaluation scores for uniformity, quality, and salability of pepper revealed little difference between 0 WS: 100 RO, 25 WS: 75 RO, and 50 WS: 50 RO dilutions. Therefore, higher percentages of a poor quality water source and less RO may be tolerated in pepper plug production. Overall trends in gaillardia production revealed a trend for maximum dry weights with the 25 WS: 75 RO dilution. With few exceptions, the highest evaluation scores for uniformity, quality, and salability of gaillardia were with the 25 WS: 75 RO dilution. For salvia, a crop sensitive to soluble salts. 100% reverse osmosis treated irrigation water produced the highest dry weights with the best evaluation ratings for uniformity, quality, and salability.

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